LOWER CELL, LIBBY PRISON, Richmond, Va., July 10, 1864.

Mrs. JENNIE SCHOENLE,

Numbers 48 Mansfield Street, Cincinnati, Ohio:

MY DEAR JENNIE: It has been many months since I have received any letter from the North. I have written a great many, but doubt whether they have reached their destination, as all communication by flag-of-truce boat has been stopped. I hope communication will be soon reopened, so that I may hear from the clear the dear ones at home and learn what has been done to effect my release. My situation could not be worse than it now is. I have become so weak and broke down from close confinement and want of food that I can hardly walk. I have now been in this cell two months and five days. Our rations daily consist of half a pound of corn bread, half a pound of boiled beans, and about two or three ounces of bacon. This is what the commissary says our rations weigh, but judging from the quantity we actually receive I doubt whether it weighs that much. You can judge how much we get when I assure you that we eat every morsel as soon as we receive our rations and go hungry the balance of the twenty-four hours. I cannot say how long we shall be able to live on such rations, but I am confident that we cannot stand it much longer. I am becoming both blind and deaf; my eyes are very much inflamed and cause me considerable pain; my sense of hearing is getting worse every day. Write to Fred. ; tell him my condition and ask him whether he cannot effect my release. Write to me when you receive this. My love to mother, Fannie, and the boys, Include, Mr. W. ., and all our friends. Let me know whether Koenigsberger has sent my trunk, &c., home. Give me all the news you have in regard to Colonel Moor, the regiment.

Good-by.

L. MARKBREIT.

[First indorsement.]

WAR DEPARTMENT, October 10, 1864.

Respectfully referred to the Commissary-General of Prisoners, with directions to subject the officer held as hostage for the within-named prisoners to the same treatment.

By order of the Secretary of War:

C. A. DANA,

Assistant Secretary of War.

[Second indorsement.]

OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS,

Washington, D. C., October 15, 1864.

Respectfully referred to Brigadier General A. Schoepf, commanding Fort Delaware, and attention respectfully invited to the order of the Secretary of War.

W. HOFFMAN,

Colonel Third Infantry and Commissary-General of Prisoners.

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, WAR DEPARTMENT,

Richmond, Va., July 10, 1864.

General R. E. LEE:

GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge your letter of the 9th instant,* inclosing one received from General U. S. Grant, the commander of the Federal Army.

* Not found.