May 13, 1862, The Charleston Mercury
We get the following from the Savannah Republican of yesterday:
As there is much speculation, and some very erroneous rumors, with regard to the communication received by the commandant of this district, through a flag of truce, Friday last, it may be well to give a general statement of the facts as they are: It appears that the communication referred to was from General Benham, the Federal commandant at Fort Pulaski. Its sole object was to propose an exchange of the sick and wounded Confederate prisoners now in the fort, amounting, as he states, to twenty, for a like number of Federal prisoners now in our possession, and fit for service; the exchange men on both sides first to take an oath before their discharge from custody. This proposition was replied to by General Lawton, through a flag of truce on Saturday. Though anxious to secure the release of the Pulaski prisoners, he declined an exchange on the terms proposed: first, because under the terms of the capitulation of the fort, as published in Northern papers, and presumed to be authentic, the Federal commander expressly stipulated that the sick and wounded of the garrison should be under a flag of truce to the Confederate lines, there being no condition or consideration annexed, and hence, under a bona fide fulfilment of the contract, they should have been sent without a demand for an exchange, and immediately after the surrender, when the kind offices of friends were most needed. A proposition now, after a whole month has elapsed, and when it suited the purposes of the Federal commander to send a flag of truce, to exchange them for well prisoners in our custody, and after the unusual ceremony of administering an oath to the parties to be exchanged, was inadmissible, and promptly declined. No further communication has been received from the enemy.