department, I have visited the hospital and find the condition of Colonel Crooks, of the Twenty-second new York Cavalry, prisoner of war (see indorsement of Surgeon Ogier), not to be such by the laws of humanity as to subject him at this time to the retaliatory treatment ordered by the Secretary of War. In the meantime I beg leave respectfully to suggest that as the sufferings of Colonel McDonald - arbitrary, inhuman, and without justification - have been continued for weeks without an equivalent on our side, that we can only equalize by a substitution of an increased rank for the loss of time, and that for this purpose Major-General Stoneman, now a prisoner of war of this city, be substituted for Colonel Crooks to this punishment until such time as Colonel Crooks may be pronounced in condition to receive the same. The precedent established by the enemy fully justifies this recommendation, as in the cases of Captain Sawyer and Flinn, who were held as hostages in Richmond for officers of equal grade who were condemned and executed by the enemy for recruiting in Kentucky, the enemy selected Brigadier General W. H. F. Lee and confined him in a dungeon at Fortress Monroe as a hostage for them. The dispatch of the Secretary of War of the 14th states that Colonel McDonald was captured by the command of Colonel Crooks. He states that he has never been with General Hunter; that his regiment is attached to Burnside's corps, and that he was captured at Reams' Station, near Petersburg, while under arrest and in rear of his command. In my opinion Major-General Stoneman is an eminently fitted subject for this treatment.

Respectfully submitted.

JOHN F. LAY,

Major and Department Inspector-General.

[First indorsement.]

OFFICE MEDICAL DIRECTOR, Charleston, August 22, 1864.

Having, in accordance with instructions, examined Colonel Crooks, Federal prisoner, in prisoners' hospital, I find him affected with chronic disease, and consider him to be put in solitary confinement.

Respectfully,

T. L. OGIER,

Medical Director.

[Second indorsement.]

HDQRS. DEPT. OF S. CAROLINA, GEORGIA, AND FLORIDA,
August 22, 1864.

Respectfully forwarded for information of Secretary of War.

I have not carried out the order to put General Crooks in irons, awaiting reply to my telegram of this date to the Secretary of War.

SAMUEL JONES,

Major-General, Commanding.

[Third indorsement.]

ADJUTANT AND INSPECTOR GENERAL'S OFFICE,

August 29, 1864.

Respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War.

H. L. CLAY,

Assistant Adjutant-General.