either place move the garrisons to the pine woods away from the cities, leaving no more than what is necessary to guard public property.

U. S. GRANT,

Lieutenant-General.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF FLORIDA,
FOURTH SEPARATE BRIGADE, DEPT. OF THE SOUTH,

Jacksonville, Fla., July 7, 1865.

Brigadier General E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant-General:

GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your telegram of 30th ultimo, in reference to some boxes containing effects of Jeff. Davis, seized by my order in this State, and respectfully refer you to inclosed copy of my report* in rleation to the capture, together with a copy of the invoice of contents+ and report, of the officer making the seizure,+ which were all forwarded at the time, with the baggage, to headquarters Department of the South, in charge of Captain Bryant, Thirty-fourth U. S. Colored Troops, acting assistant provost-marshal of Jacksonville. The interrogations proposed by you are, I believe, all answered in the reports and invoices accompanying them. The boxes and trunk did not have the appearance of having been opened when they were received by me. I had them opened in a private room in presence only of some two or three officers of my staff, although during the time the contents were being examined one or two other officers were in the room for a short tiem. I made the examination in company with Lieutenant Denny, my aide-de-camp, and Major Gouraud, inspector-general of the department, who was here at the time, and replaced the papers and effects in the boxes and trunk, as far as possible, as they were. I am satisfied that no papers of any kind were reatined or left out, except some few envelopes and note paper and the paper which I inclose herewith, which was picked up amongst the loose note paper on the floor after the boxes were closed. No papers were copied or exhibited to person outside, although I mentioned to some officers the nature of the contents of some of the packages examined by me. It was necessary in some instances, for want of proper keys, to break open some cases and boxes, which were found upon examination to contain nothing but ammunition, of which there was a large supply of different kinds, and some cigars, a few of which were probably taken out. The boxes were received at these headquarters late in the vening of the 15th of June, and were forwarded on the first steamer leaving for Hilton Head (viz, on the 18th ultimo), with the request that if considered by the major-general commanding the department of sufficient importance the officer who made the seizure (Captain Bryant) would be allowed to accompany them to Washington. From the fact that Captain Bryant was not sent in charge I was led to believe that the general command did not so regard the seizure. In the inclosed report reference is made to the letter of a man named Booth, addressed to Jeff. Davis in March. I inclose extract taken from the New York Times,++ which throwns some light on the character of the letter referred to. A voluntary report made by Mr. Yulee, in reference to the manner which he came into possession of the baggage, was furnished to department headquarters, and I have requested Major Burger, assistant adjutant-general, to forward a copy of the same with this report. + I desire to state, in relation to the papers found in the boxes and trunk, that they

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*See June 17, p. 651.

+See pp. 652, 653.

++Omitted.

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