[Fifth indorsement.]

WAR DEPARTMENT, April 5, 1864.

Respectfully returned to the Commissary-General of Prisoners for reference to Major General B. F. Butler.

By order of the Secretary of War:

ED. R. S. CANBY,

Brigadier-General and Assistant Adjutant-General.

[Sixth indorsement.]

OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS,

Washington, D. C., April 8, 1864.

Respectfully referred to Major General B. F. Butler, commissioner for exchange.

W. HOFFMAN,

Colonel Third Infantry and Commissary-General of Prisoners.

[Seventh indorsement.]

HDQRS. DEPT. OF VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA,
Fort Monroe, Va., April 10, 1864.

Respectfully returned.

All the wounded of our soldiers at Richmond have been promised to me by the rebel commissioner and I suppose are now on the way here. I would suggest that all the sick and wounded of their prisoners that can be moved should be sent to Point Lookout, to be sent up for exchange.

BENJ. F. BUTLER,

Major-General, Commanding.

George P. Farr, Haynesville, Ten., asks if an oath to which he has "inscribed" is binding. *

[Indorsement.]

MARCH 16, 1864.

Returned to Colonel Preston.

We cannot respect the oath, nor the bond given for its observance. The enemy has no right to impose such obligations on non-combatants. If these obligations were respected by us they would practically defeat our power "to raise armies. "

[ROU OULD.]

General G. T. BEAUREGARD,

Commanding Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida:

GENERAL: We are forced to complain directly to you, and it is with reluctance we do so, of the treatment we have experienced since we have been confined in this jail. We came here on the 12th of January, and for the first few days the food was sufficient, but since then it has fallen off in quantity, and it is now merely nothing. We are satisfied in our minds that the ration is sufficient, but this we do not get. The greater part of it is pilfered from us by the negroes who cook it and by others employed about the premises. We have been forced to sell our clothing and other things to keep us alive, and now that these things have

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*Farr's communication not found.

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67 R R-SERIES II, VOL VI