HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF TENNESSEE,
In the Field, September 11, 1864.

Major General W. T. SHERMAN, Commanding U. S. Forces:

SIR: I had the honor on the 8th instant to propose to you an exchange of prisoners, office and men, captured by both armies since the commencement of the present campaign. On the same day you answered my communication, stating that you accept my offer to exchange prisoners of war in hand at this moment. There being no condition attached to the acceptance on your part of my offer to exchange prisoners, I regarded it as obligatory to the extent of the number of prisoners represented by your to be within your jurisdiction. At the meeting on the 9th instant between our respective staff officers, Major J. B. Eustis, assistant adjutant-general, and Lieutenant Colonel W. Warner, inspector-general, intended to arrange such preliminaries as the time and place of delivery, &c., a communication was received from you, rendering, I regret to inform you, an exchange of prisoners impossible. Your refusal to receive in exchange your soldiers belonging to regiments whose times are out and who have been discharged discloses a fixed purpose on that part of your Government to doom to hopeless captivity those prisoners whose terms of service have expired or will soon expire. The new principle which you seek to interpolate upon the cartel of our respective Government as well as upon the laws and customs of war, will not be sanctioned by me. All captives taken in war who owe no obligations to the captors must stand upon the same equal footing. The duration of their terms of service can certainly impose no duties or obligations on the captors. The volunteer of a day and the conscript for the war who may be captured in war are equally subject to all of the burdens and equally entitled to all of the rights secured by the law of sanctions. This principle is distinctly conceded in the cartel entered into by our respective Governments and is sanctioned by reason, justice, and the public law of all civilized nations. My offer to exchange the prisoners captured during this campaign precludes any intention on my part in the delivery to discriminate between you prisoners, as all would have been you men whose of service had and had not expired would have been impossible and could not have been effected, as I had no reliable means of ascertaining what proportion of your men were entitled to their discharge. Your avowal that this class of your soldiers will not be exchanged, but will be rewarded by the sufferings and privations incident to military imprisonment, because their boldness and courage subjected them to capture, although their term of service had nearly expired, is deeply regretted by me, as I share the earnest desire of my Government to release from prolonged confinement the large number of prisoners held by both parties. Permit me to hope that this declared policy of your Government will be reconsidered, as it is unjustly oppressive to those whom the hazards of military service have rendered prisoners, and is violative of the well-understood obligations assumed by a Government toward those who are enlisted in its service. As was proper, I notified my Government of my offer to you to effect an exchange of prisoners captured during this campaign, and not only was any action approved, but my Government placed at my entire disposal for immediate exchange, man for man, all the prisoners of Andersonville. I have the honor to renew my offer to exchange prisoners, as proposed in my first communication, and remain,

Your obedient servant,

J. B. HOOD,

General.