the State of Kentucky and United States. I have the honor to represent this district in the senate of Kentucky, and am of an opinion that the release of Mr. Nelson upon his oath will be acceptable to the people and for the benefit of the United States.

I am sir, your obedient servant,

M. P. MARSHALL.

CAMP NEAR LOUISVILLE, KY., November 29, 1861.

Honorable W. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington.

SIR: In October last for reasons that met the approval of the war Department I arrest and sent to Columbus, Ohio, the following active secessionists, viz, R. H. Stanton, William Hunt, William T. Casto, Isaac Nelson, George Forrester, B. F. Thomas and James H. Hall. At my request these persons were afterward transferred to Fort Lafayette. The campaign on the Big Sandy has completely quieted the eastern portion of Kentucky for the present at least, and I beg to request that thesemen with the exception of R. H. Stanton may be releasedon their taking the oath of allegiance which they are willing and anxious to do. Iam satisfied that this course in regard to them would be of service to the cause in that portion of the State. Their power to do harm is at an end even if they were so inclined, and they are too small game to hold longer.

Not so, however, with Stanton. He served several terms in Congress and is an astute, truculent fellow and the head of the secession movement in Northeastern Kentucky. This man's industry and being wholly unscrupulous renders him too dangerous to be turned loose.

Trusting that it may suit your views of policy to grant my request, I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. NELSON,

Brigadier-General.

LOUISIVILLE, November 30, 1861.

Honorable WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State:

It is advisable to release all except Stanton. On no account release him.

NELSON,

Brigadier-General.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 4, 1861.

Lieutenant Colonel MARTIN BURKE, Fort Lafayette, N. Y.

SIR: Let William T. Casto, a prisoner confined in Fort Lafayette, be released on taking the oath of allegiance* to the Government of the United States stipulating that he will neither enter any of the States in insurrection against the authority of the United States Government nor hold any correspondence whatever with persons residing in those States without permission from the Secretary of State; and also that he will not do anything hostile to the United States during the present insurrection. I transmit this order to Robert Murray, esq., U. S. marshal, who has been instructed by this Department to cause a police examina-

---------------

* Casto declined to take the oath and was not released until February 22, 1861.

---------------