U.S. Provost Marshal's Office, Nov. 26, 1862

Document measures approximately 5 3/4" x 3 1/2" and is in very good condition with the ink writing easily read. Captain John C. Wyman had been one of the leading speakers at anti-slavery rallies in the 1850's. William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator notes his fiery speeches brought the crowds to their feet. Once the Union secured the area, they converted the Alexandria Slave Pen as a prison for Confederate soldiers, Union deserters as well as civilians of the town. He was appointed Provost Marshal on October 19, 1862 (National Archives, RG 393, 30W2, Row (, Comp 12, Volume 4 reports his letter a day earlier than this document where he wrote to Edgar D. Davis (his commanding officer) about the health problem from those imprisoned; especially the case of Cavalry Picketts, a Union deserter, who clearly had serious respiratory problems. It was this serious situation that led to Frederic Law Olmstead's establishing of the Sanitary Commission. In this case, he is allowed a Mr. Reynolds and his daughters to leave Alexandria but to return by November 30, 1862. After the assassination of President Lincoln, he was one of the men to accompany the body to its internment in Springfield, Illinois.