Retaliation.
The following order would seem to indicate that our Government has at last reached the conclusion that retaliation is necessary to restrain the atrocities perpetrated by the authorized and commissioned agents of the Federal Government. The entourages of Brig. Gen. Fitch have no doubt the reaction of the Government which he represents, and we see no reason why our Government should wait for an opportunity to avenge the murder of our citizens until some officer of his particular command is captured, when there are already in our hands officers of the Government which these atrocities. Let summary examples once be made, and it is probable we shall hear more of these barbarities: Adj't and Insp'r Gen's Office, Richmond, August 20, 1862.
General Orders, No. 39.
I. Whereas information has been received that certain peaceable citizens of the Confederate States have been seized and put to death by order of Gen. Pitch, commanding the army of the United States, which had invaded the State of Arkansas, upon the ground that one of the said invading army had been shot by some unknown person, who, whatever his condition, had an unquestionable right to his home; and whereas inquiry has been made of the Government of the United States as to the correctness of the said information, and whether the action of General Fitch has the the said Government, to which inquiry the authorities of the United States have refused to answer; and whereas our Government is thereby Given to retaliatory measures, as the only means to protect the lives of the peaceable citizens of the Confederate States who may fail into the hands of General Fitch or any persons acting under his authority:
It is hereby ordered that general officers commanding troops of the Confederate States shall forthwith ascertain and report to the President whether such acts have been committed, and upon being certified the shall forthwith set apart, by from among any prisoners taken from the army under the command of General Fitch, a number of officers equal in number to the persons who have been put to death as aforesaid, and place them in confinement for execution, at such time thereafter as may be ordered by the President, and shall regard the said General Pitch, if , not as a prisoner of war, but place him in confinement as a false, until the further orders of the President. 