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to make them interfere in behalf of the South--somewhat illogical but certainly true.1
The burning of property substantially ceased, and I purposely refrained from seizure or interference with it until the country got quieted down, and only returned to the policy of seizure afterwards because of the confiscation acts of our Congress.
One thing I may say here as well as elsewhere, that from the hour I left Washington in February, 1862, to the hour of the despatch given below, I never received any direction or intimation from Washington or anywhere else how I should conduct the expedition or carry on the administration of the government in that department; and by no word ever afterwards was the confidence and high praise therein expressed by my official superiors as to my proceedings in New Orleans withdrawn.
Following is the despatch referred to:--
1 Randolph, the rebel Secretary of War, wrote to Lovell, April 25, 1862, as follows:--
It has been determined to burn all the cotton and tobacco, whether foreign or our own, to prevent it from falling into the hands of the enemy. You will, therefore, destroy it all if necessary to prevent them from getting it.This was sent on the 25th of April,but did not reach Lovell. It was again sent on the 28th, and did not reach him directly, but he did get it on the 7th of May. Randolph renewed the instructions on May 21, 1862. [War Records, Series I., Vol. XV, pp. 459-471.] The following is from Lovell's order pursuant to the instructions from Randolph [War Records, Series I., Vol. XV., pp. 459-460]:--
A. M. Thayer and Co. 1892.
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