been made for the exchange of Major Sanders, and those attempts have failed. The efforts of the commissioner of exchange for this purpose have gone as far as the policy of the Government would permit.

Respectfully,

JAMES A. SEDDON,

Secretary of War.

HEADQUARTERS, Savannah, September 8, 1864.

Major C. S. STRINGFELLOW, Assistant Adjutant-General:

MAJOR: Fifteen hundred Federal prisoners have already arrived, and the superintendent of transportation informs me that 1,800 more will arrive to-morrow morning, and 600 more in the evening, and the same to continue every day until 10,000 are received.

There must be some strange misconception as to the force in this district and the location of what is reported which has caused such a number of prisoners to be thrown suddenly into Savannah. I have not now a single man in reserve to support any point that may be threatened by the enemy, and there are many points where a lodgment could be effected and from which an advance could be made on the city without much difficulty, if I had no means of re-enforcing those points, such as Beaulieu, Whitemarsh, Thunderbolt, Rosedew, and Fort McAllister. The garrisons at those points are now reduced so low that it may be said with truth they are merely picketed and cannot be defended with the forces now there; and yet I have not a man to add to their respective garrisons without vacating other positions. I have no place stockaded or palisade or fenced in where the prisoners can be kept; no place where there is running water.

I had ordered a place to be inclosed with a high fence for the confinement of the 600 Federal officers. It was not at all completed when the last Federal prisoners commenced to arrive. Three sides of it were planked by working at it all night. The fourth is open, and of necessity must be kept open, as the sides have to be extended to meet the increasing demand for room. But there is no running water, nor have wells or sinks been dug, as yet, to accommodate the prisoners.

The seizure of all the slaves which had been impressed for Savannah by General Hood's officers has left this place without labor, with the exception of about 108 or 110 slaves, scattered about the different points to be repaired or fortified. Under there circumstances all the slaves about the city have been impressed wherever found.

Captain McCrady, chief engineer, is very ill, threatened with typhoid fever, and Lieutenant Stiles, the only other engineer, is in the same condition. There is, in consequence, no one here to take charge of the work, and I request that an engineer be sent here temporarily

The ordnance, medical, and other staff departments are moving their surplus stores form Macon, thus occupying every store-house and ware-house that can be obtained by voluntary hire or by impressment.

If it is determined that the prisoners shall remain here I take the liberty of suggesting that the stockade for their confinement be made in Effingham County, where the Ogeechee and Savannah Rivers approach each other, along the headwaters of Turkey and Ebenezer Creeks. The Savannah and Ogeechee up to those points are difficult to cross, and are bordered with dense swamps, nearly if not quite impassable, exception very difficult except along the narrow front to the north. The location of prisons about or near Savannah but invites an attack, which at the present time is not to be desired.