Case of F. M. Ellis.

Ellis was arrested by order of Major-General McClellan December 20, 1861, and committed to the Old Capitol Prison on the charge of being a spy. The only information on file in the Department of State relative to Ellis appears as an indorsement upon a returned order granting permission for one H. D. Turner to visit the prisoner, which reads as follows, viz:

HEADQUARTERS CITY GUARD,
OFFICE OF THE PROVOST-MARSHAL, Washington, January 16, 1862.

Respectfully referred to Honorable F. W. Seward, Assistant Secretary of State.

The prisoner, F. M. Ellis, by order of Major-General McClellan, is being held in close confinement on the charge of being a spy for the rebel Government.

A. PORTER,

Brigadier-General, and Provost-Marshal.

The said F. M. Ellis remained in custody at the Old Capitol Prison February 15, 1862, when he was transferred to the charge of the War Department. - From Record Book, State Department, "Arrests for Disloyalty. "

HEADQUARTERS PROVOST-MARSHAL-GENERAL,
ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, March 18, 1862

Honorable E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War.

SIR: I have the honor to report that I received on yesterday from the War Department-it being referred to me for report-a communication signed F. M. Ellis, and by ellis addressed to yourself, which communication I return herewith appended; that in the case of F. M. Ellis I have to report that in September last Ellis was introduced to me by General R. B. Marcy, chief of the staff of Major-General McClellan; that he represented himself as having been in the employment of General Mansfield in the secret service of the Government and was by me employed to operate in Virginia in the secret service of General McClellan; that at the time I employed Ellis in the early part of September he was not possessed, as I believe of any pecuniary wealth, but on the contary was pressed for small sums for everyday purposes; that within the short space of about three months, and mostly within the time of his last rip to Virginia, made in November, he became suddenly possessed of nearly $4,000 which I found upon his person in the shape of Treasury notes made payable to his own order, and money; that he made three trips to Richmond while in my employ, declining to make another after he had returned from the last and had been North to New York City and State, perfecting as he represented arrangeents to go again to Richmond; that he decline going after his return from New York in November because he considered it would be dangerous for him to do so, l about which he said nothing on his return from Richmond from his last trip but the contrary.

That on the first trip made by Ellis to Richmond he become acquainted with, and if his own report can be credited, was taken into the bosom of confidence by the leading officers at Richmond of the rebel Government this trip being made in the month of September; that in October last he made a second trip to Richmond, taking with him by my consent and with the approbation of Secretaries Seward and Chase and Major-General McClellan a quantity of bank-note paper for the rebel Government, as by supply of that to the Secretary of the Treasury of the rebel Government Ellis could better deceive them as to his real character,