Pres. Lincoln and Alec Stephens Agreement at the Hampton Roads Peace Conference

[David Lockmiller]

(05-24-2022 12:05 PM)clayfeeter Wrote:  Hi All,
I have the answer to your question "What Union officer was freed from a POW camp in exchange for Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens' nephew" and here it is:

He was my cousin on my mom's side. His name was Lt. Henry H. Murray of the 13th NH Infantry. He was freed in exchange for Alexander Stephens' Rebel POW nephew John A. Stephens' freedom granted by Abe with the understanding that if he allowed John Stephens to be released that the CSA would free a Union officer of like rank.

To prove how providential this random freeing was for Lt. Murray, two of the four 13th NH soldiers captured the previous Oct., 1864 died in rebel prisons... so Murray lucked out!

Source for this information is Bruce Catton's "Stillness at Appomattox" in which he mentions Lt. Murray and his regiment.

Thank you for this posting. It is wonderful to know that the Alexander Stephen was able to keep his part of the bargain made with President Lincoln and how providential for your family at the time.

Do you know whether or not President Lincoln was informed accordingly?

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Bruce Catton's "Stillness at Appomattox" at page 333:

For anti-climax, the conference came to nothing. One side insisted on an independent Confederacy, and the other side insisted on a restored Union, and the conferees were reduced to nothing much more than an interchange of expressions of personal good will. It developed that Stephen's nephew, a Confederate officer, had for twenty months been a prisoner of war on Johnson's Island, in Sandusky Bay. Lincoln made a note of it, and a few days later that surprised young officer found himself called out of prison and sent down to Washington, where he was taken to the White House for a chat with President Lincoln; after which, he was sent through the lines to Richmond. The Confederates returned the favor, picking at random a Union officer of the same rank, and so the 13th New Hampshire presently welcomed the return of its Lieutenant Murray, who was delighted and surprised by the whole business.

So the conference ended, and in the North the radicals reacted with bitter suspicion, shouting their fear that Lincoln was trying to revive "the old policy of tenderness toward the rebels."