The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 21, July 1917 - April, 1918 Page: 339
434 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department, 1863-1865 339
These differences seem to have been the result of considering
the organization of the army from different points of view. Gen-
eral Smith's organization was the result of conditions; the large
territory he had to defend, the long line of frontier he had to
guard, and the depleted ranks of his army made it necessary, in
some instances at least, to have divisions and corps composed of
fewer men than the army regulations required. On the other
hand, the officials at Richmond seem to have computed from his
reports the number of officers he needed by mathematical applica-
tion of the regulations. There is jusitification for both sides,
but working at such cross purposes forced General Smith, in this
instance, to exercise so extraordinary a power that it might easily
be interpreted as insubordination; for only in rare cases does it
appear that officers advanced to higher rank were ever dropped
therefrom, and so, to all practical purposes, the promotions were
actually made.
Field commanders anywhere were permitted to exchange men
whom they had captured for prisoners from their own commands;
but, if a commander held a surplus of prisoners, the exchange
was made by a special officer, usually an agent of exchange. By
September, 1863, there was so large a surplus of prisoners west of
the Mississippi that the problem of taking care of them was be-
coming difficult. At the suggestion of Colonel Robert Ould, agent
of exchange, Major Szymanski was sent from Richmond to the
Trans-Mississippi Department by the secretary of war with in-
structions to collect and report information about the prisoners,
to instruct commanders as to the form of lists and paroles, and,
where possible, to make exchanges." Major Szymanski's instruc-
tions did not mention the relation that he should sustain to the
commander of the department; but it seems at first that he acted
solely under orders from Richmond. By the last of November he
had established headquarters at Alexandria, Louisiana, from which
place he wrote the district commanders, enclosing a copy of his
instructions with proper forms for paroles and requesting each of
them to send him lists of all prisoners with the necessary infor-
"Ould to Seddon, September 10, 1863, Off. Reos., Series II, Vol. VI,
278; Ould to Szymanski, .September 25, 1863, ibid., 320-321, and numer-
ous other places in this volume show the general regulations for exchang-
ing man for man and officer for officer in a command.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 21, July 1917 - April, 1918, periodical, 1918; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101073/m1/345/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.