Last modified: 2023-05-06 by rick wyatt
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For those researchers interested in how "flags of truce" were used/honored --
here a Unionist complaint against a Confederate officer.
source:
https://catalogue.swanngalleries.com/Lots/auction-lot/(CIVIL-WAR--TEXAS)-Benjamin-S-Roberts-A-Union-general-compla?saleno=2615&lotNo=121&refNo=797474
(CIVIL WAR--TEXAS.) Benjamin S. Roberts. A Union general complains to
his Confederate counterpart about his abuse of flags of truce. Autograph Letter
Signed as "B.D. Roberts, Brig'r Gen'l Vols., Commanding," to Confederate Major
General John B. Magruder. One page, 9 3/4 x 7 3/4 inches, with later pencil
docketing on verso; lacking integral blank, early repair to 5-inch closed tear.
Pass Caballo, Matagorda Island, TX, 16 May 1864. The possession of the coastal
Fort Esperanza at Matagorda, TX changed hands several times over the course of
the war. This letter was written by the Union commander of the fort to the
Confederate commander of the Department of Texas, John B. Magruder. Both men
were graduates of West Point (Magruder in 1830, Roberts in 1835), so Roberts
called upon their shared professional military culture: "The frequent abuse of
the privileges of flags of truce by you and subordinates under your command
calls for correction. . . . Due to the humanities of war and the inviolable
purity of flags of truce, as a means of aiding such humanities . . . I shall no
longer respect any boat or party approaching my military lines, not fully and
plainly justified by prescription, custom and the law regulating this subject.
All flags of truce expecting to be respected by me hereafter must bear letters
authenticating them from authorized commanders, their business must be clearly
stated, must be strictly of military nature, and justified by the emergencies of
war."
Bill Garrison, 8 April 2023