have had no opportunity until now to perform this duty. Myself and officers were plundered of all our effects except such as were on our persons; in other respects I was treated by General Hoke and his officers with kindness and courtesy.

For the reason stated above I am unable to report the losses on either side, but I have reason to believe that my own casualties did not exceed 150, while from information derived by medical officers, who remained in Plymouth, the lowest loss of the enemy in killed and wounded is given at 850, many believing it to be far greater.

With my personal staff i was at once separated from the troops, and on Saturday, the 23d, I was conveyed to Richmond via Weldon and Petersburg, and then confined in Libby prison April 26. The enlisted men, with the regimental officers, were marched to Tarborough, and thence by rail to Macon and Andersonville, Ga. On the 7th of May, in company with 850 captive officers, I was conveyed to Danville. Leaving that place on the 12th I was taken to Macon, and there confined until the 10th of June. On that day 50 senior officers, including myself, were ordered to proceed east, and passing through Savannah arrived in Charleston on the 12th. At this place the party was confined in the city under the fire of the batteries at Morris Island. No inconvenience, however, was experienced from this unusual proceeding. On the 3rd of the present month an exchange was effected under the direction of Major-General Foster, commanding Department of the South, and with the whole party I arrived in New York on the 9th.

It may be proper to state that a few days prior to the completion of this exchange a detachment of officers, prisoners of war, numbering 600, arrived in Charleston from Macon and were confined in the city jail and its yard. I visited them in the evening of the 2nd, and found them very uncomfortable, being much crowded and poorly sheltered. I was assured, however, by the rebel authorities that this condition was only temporary, and that they should be soon removed to more suitable quarters.

As soon as sub-reports are received and examined they will be forwarded as accompaniments to this statement.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. W. WESSELLS,

Brigadier-General, U. S. Volunteers.

Major General J. J. PECK,

Late Commanding District of North Carolina.

NOTE. - In the foregoing report I have neglected to state that on the morning of the 19th, subsequent to the marine disaster, Captain H. I. Hodges, assistant quartermaster of volunteers, in endeavoring to communicate with the gun-boats, was accidentally drowned by the upsetting of a canoe; no further information in regard to his fate has ever reached me. I should also add that on the following day, during the bombardment of Fort Williams, Captain Coats, Eighty-fifth New York Volunteers, acting assistant inspector-general of the sub-district, was severely wounded in the face by a fragment of shell. It is difficult for me at this time without the aid of subordinate reports to detail with accuracy all the incidents of the siege, and other important omissions may have been made.

H. W. W.