Headquarters, Middle Department,
8th Army Corps.
Baltimore, Dec. 6, 1864.
Capt. W. H. Wiegel,
Asst. Provost Marshal,
8th Army Corps.
Captain.—I have the honor to report the arrest of John Henry Skinner Quinn, alias J. Y. Plater, alias Simpson, on charge of being a spy.
I hand you two sworn statements that he made to me, also his memorandum book in which is a partial description of his first visit to Baltimore, also some entries, some of which he explains in his statement. I also hand you his furlough, which he said he did not have, in his first statement.
On this trip he registered at Miller's Hotel as "Simpson." On 23d April last, he registered at same hotel as John Y. Plater.
You can see by his statements that he tries to conceal the Rebel sympathizers of this Department, and some he positively refuses to name, but asks me to kill him, and not ask him any more questions.
He came to this office to report as a Rebel deserter, but when he found that I had been on his track, he owned up, but refused to implicate his friends.
I am, Captain,
Very respy. your obdt. servt.,
H. B. Smith,
Lt. & Chief.
As General Wallace had said, it was our duty to ascertain by every means, the status of all persons; our archives were crowded with information, which materially helped us to avoid the dilemma General Schenck described.
Headquarters, Middle Department,
8th Army Corps.
Baltimore, Dec. 7, 1864.