the trip, and consequently did not come. My cavalry are in motion, scouring the Peninsula to cover the escape of the rest. Several colonels, among them Colonel Straight, are on the road, but the path is hard.

I. J. WISTAR,

Brigadier-General.

J. W. SHAFFER,

Colonel and Chief of Staff.

FORT MONROE, VA., February 14, 1864. (Received 2. 35 p. m., 16th.)

Honorable E. M. STANTON,

Secretary of War:

Twenty-six of the escaped prisoners have arrived within our lines up to-night. We have sent cavalry patrols up the Peninsula as far as the Chickahominy to pick up all we can. Have sent an army gun-boat up the James and Chickahominy Rivers for the same purpose.

BENJ. F. BUTLER,

Major-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS, Fort Monroe, Va., February 14, 1864.

Brigadier General E. R. S. CANBY,
War Department, Washington City:

General Butler went to New York to attend his brother's burial, by permission of the Secretary of War. Will be back to-morrow night or Tuesday morning. The routine of the department is conducted by the chiefs of the different branches of his staff.

General Peck, being next senior officer in the department, and being at New Berne, N. C., could not, if ordered off, have reached here before General Butler's return. Everything is perfectly quiet in the department.

J. W. SHAFFER,

Colonel and Chief of Staff.

YORKTOWN, February 14, 1864.

Colonel J. W. SHAFFER,

Chief of Staff:

Cavalry returned from Potopotank. Captured a small 10-ton schooner, which was towed down by the gun-boat. What shall be done with it? Confiscate and sell by provost-marshal, or send it down?

I. J. WISTAR,

Brigadier-General.

YORKTOWN, February 14, 1864.

Colonel J. W. SHAFFER,

Chief of Staff:

My cavalry detachment has returned to Williamsburg with eleven more of the escaped officers from Richmond, picked up at various