have been issued returning to-night the prisoners at Dutch Gap. A copy of the order will be sent you in the morning.

BENJ. F. BUTLER,

Major-General, &c.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
Hilton Head, S. C., October 20, 1864.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

Chief of Staff, Washington, D. C.:

GENERAL: Your letter of September 23, 1864, is received, in which I am authorized to release and send North five rebel officers upon their taking the prescribed oath of allegiance. My application, dated September 19, 1864, for the release of these men was made previous to my being informed that one of the number had been in the U. S. service since the commencement of the war previous to his entering that of the rebels; and from information subsequently obtained I am convinced that the others are unworthy of this measure of leniency in their behalf, and their release would be in opposition to the interest of the service. With reference to passports for females to come North, I do not understand by your communication that restrictions are placed upon the wives of deserters from the rebel army who may wish to join their husbands.

I have the honor, general, to remain, your obedient servant,

J. G. FOSTER,

Major-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
Hilton Head, S. C., October 20, 1864.

Major General H. W. HALLECK, U. S. Army,

Chief of Staff, Washington, D. C.:

GENERAL: I have the honor to call your attention to the inclosed letter from Lieutenant General W. J. Hardee, C. S. Army, who has recently succeeded Major General Sam. Jones in command of the Confederate forces in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, in which he states that the Union prisoners have been removed from Charleston. *

In compliance with instructions from the War Department I communicated to General Hardee my intention to remove as soon as practicable the Confederate prisoners placed in retaliation upon Morris Island to a correspondence of safety.

I would respectfully call your attention to the second paragraph in the communication of General Hardee in which he proposes an exchange of all prisoners of war captured in our respective departments.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. G. FOSTER,

Major-General, Commanding.

MORGANZA, LA., October 20, 1864.

Colonel C. C. DWIGHT:

The following is a communication just received from Colonel Szymanski. He will remain at Doctor Archer's, just outside our pickets,

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*See October 13, p. 981.

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