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William H. Child, of Alabama, was arrested by order of Brigadier-General Grant, commanding at Cairo, Ill., and on the 16th of January, 1862; was given into the custody of U. S. Marshal Phillips, of Illinois, who by order of the Secretary of State conveyed Child to Fort Lafayette. January 16, 1862, General Grant telegraphed to the Secretary of State that the persons named (Child and others) were very dangerous men and ought to be permanently secured. On the same day U. S. Marshal Phillips wrote the Secretary of State that Child had been north, perhaps to Canada, in the employ of the Confederate States and was arrested in attempting to pass the lines of our army at Cairo. He is a talented engineer and a most dangerous man.

The following extract from a letter written by Child, addressed to R. M. Crow, from Fort Laftiyette February 10, 1862, establishes his guilty intentions:

Hope to get out of here soon by regular exchange, which seems to be the only available chance for I can't go the oath. Am gaining in health daily and will soon be up to my full fighting weight, in fact mentally and all I am under excellent training for a good mill when the time comes. My prison companions are genuine Southern gentlemen in the absolute sense of the term. Do not feel in the least degraded by this incarceration. On the contrary esteem it some honor to be counted worthy of some stripes in so good a cause. Hope soon, however, to be placed on a more ennobling stage of action in the contest.

The said William H. Child remained in Fort Lafayette February 15, 1862, when he was transferred to the charge of the War Department.-From Record Book, State Department, "Arrests for Disloyalty."