WASHINGTON, D. C., May 29. 1864.

Surg. JAMES H. THOMPSON, U. S. Volunteers,

In charge of Prisoners' Hospital, Point Lookout, Md.:

SIR: You are perhaps better informed than any officer now present of the circumstances attending the shooting of prisoners of war by sentinels, or others in authority over them, at the prison camp at Point Lookout, previous to the arrival of Colonel Draper and after the 20th March, 1864, the day on which Captain Peyton was shot, and I therefore request you will give me all the particulars of such occurrences that have come to your knowledge. Please give the names, with the rank, regiment, and company of each of the parties, including those from whom you derived your information. I desire your immediate attention to this matter.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. HOFFMAN,

Colonel Third Infantry and Commissary-General of Prisoners.

GENERAL ORDERS, HDQRS. TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEPT., NO. 32.
Shreveport, La., May 20, 1864.

I. The following rules in regard to paroles are published for the information of the army:

1. Paroling must always take place by the exchange of signed duplicates of a written document, in which the names and rank of the parties paroled are correctly stated. Any one who intentionally misstates his rank forfeits the benefit of his parole, and is liable to punishment.

2. None but commissioned officers can give the parole for themselves of their commands, and no inferior officer can give a parole without the authority of his superior, if within reach.

3. No paroling on the battle-field, no paroling of entire bodies of troops after a battle, and no dismissal of a large number of prisoners with a general declaration that they are paroled is permitted or of any value.

4. An officer who gives a parole for himself or his command on the battle-field is deemed a deserter, and will be punished accordingly.

5. For the officer, the pledging of his parole is an individual act; and no wholesale paroling by an officer for a number of officers of inferior rank is permitted or valid.

6. No non-commissioned officer or private can give his paroled except through an officer. Individual paroles, not given through an officer, are not only void, but subject the individual giving them to the punishment of death as deserters. The only admissible exception is where individuals properly separated from their commands have suffered long confinement without the possibly of being paroled through an officer.

7. No prisoner of war can be forced by the hostile Government to pledge his parole, and any threat or ill-treatment to force him to do so is contrary to the laws and usages of war.

8. No prisoner of war can enter in to an agreement inconsistent with his character and duties as a citizen and subject of his State. He can only bind himself not to bear arms against his captor for a limited period, or until exchanged, and this only with the stipulated or implied consent of his own Government. If the engagement which he makes is not approved by his Government he is bound to return and surrender himself as a prisoner of war. His own government cannot at the same time disown his engagement and refuse his return as a prisoner.