I have also received yours of the 22nd at which time you sent up Mr. Stevens to be received in place of Lieutenant Kautz; also Mr. B. P. Loyall on parole to await the arrival of Lieutenant Selden. I hope to address you fully concerning them in the course of a few days and also concerning the proposition contained in yout letter of the 23rd instant which has been duly received and referred. If the delay of a day or two occurs please attribute it to temporary absence from the city and not to any neglect on my part.

I remain, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

BENJ. HUGER,

Major - General, Commanding Department.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,
Fort Monroe, November 27, 1861.

Honorable WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

SIR: Herewith I transmit for your consideration a letter dated the 22nd [20th] instant addressed to the Honorable Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, at Richmond, Va., by N. Harrison, attorney for the officers and crew of the Petrel and Enchantress, with a certified copy of docket entries in the circuit court of the United States, dated October 8, 1861, against Perry for high treason, and a printed document * of the trial of William Smith for piracy as one of the crew of the Confederate privateer Jeff. Davis, by D. F. Murphy. I also send you two letters dated November 22, one addressed to myself or Flag - Officer L. M. Goldsborough, and the other to Commodore Pendergrast, requesting that the documents might be forwarded to Jefferson Davis. Not being to forward them as desired I have deemed it proper to transmit them to you for such disposition as you may direct.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOHN E. WOOL,

Major - General.

[Inclosure No 1.]

PHILADELPHIA, November 20, 1861.

Honorable JEFFERSON DAVIS,

President of the Confederate States of America.

SIR: I herewith transmit to you three printed copies of the trial of William Smith (prize master of the Enchantress and one of the crew of the privateer Jeff. Davis) who was lately convicted of piracy before the circuit court of the United States for the eastern district of Pennsylvania. Smith's real name is Walker W. Smith, but it was deemed unnecessary by his counsel to put in a plea of misnomer and to delay the trial of the case on that account. It will be seen from the last page of the pamphlet that his comrades, Daniel Mullings, Edward Rochford and Thomas Quigley were subsequently tried and convicted in the same court and for the same offense. In all these cases motions for a new trial and in arrest of judgment have been made which are still pending.

I also transmit to you a transcript form the record in the case of the United States versus William Perry and others (the officers and crew of the privatter Petrel) charged with treason before the same court. This transcript shows the number and also the shipped names of all the Petrel prisoners with the exception of the defendant, Austin C. Williams,

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* Omitted here; see trial of William Smith, p. 58 et seq.

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