General John F. Wheless, Inspector-General of Tennessee, was in 1863 a Captain in the First Teunessee Regiment of Volunteers and Assistant-Adjutant and Inspector-General of the corps commanded by Lieutenant-General Polk. At the battle of Perryville Captain Wheless was so severely wounded as to be disabled for field service. His fidelty and efficiency had gained the esteem of his corps commander, and as he had before entering the army been a banker of good repute, in Nashville, Tennessee. General Polk wrote warmly recommending him for an appointment as paymaster in the navy, as well because of his capacity as of his integrity and meritorious services in the field. In this new sphere of duty he was connected with the Confederate treasure when it was removed from Richmond and therefore specially well informed concerning it. When he saw the published report of an interview which represented General J. E. Johnston as making injurious reflections on President Davis in connection with the Confederate States treasure removed from Richmond, General Wheless, like other true-hearted Confederates, felt indignant at the slanderous insinuation and published in the Nashville American, of December 25th, a brief but decided refutation of the baseless fiction. At the suggestion of a friend he has written a fuller recital of events which preceded the appointment of Captain M. H. Clark to be treasurer, and thus completes the history of the fund from the time of leaving Richmond, Va., to that when Captain Clark closed the account at Washington, Ga.
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affirm.
But as we have already published the conclusive statement of Captain Clark as to the disposition made of the treasure after it was turned over to him, we are happy to be able to add now the equally satisfactory statement of General Wheless who was with the treasure from the evacuation of Richmond until its disbursement by Captain Clark.
These two papers really leave nothing more to be said, and we should be quite willing to rest the matter with them but that we wish the evidence to be cumulative.
A distinguished Confederate sends us the following introductory note to the letter of General Wheless:
Richmond, VA. 1882.
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