at Fort Gaines at Galveston, Tex., at such time as you may indicate when you will have them there for delivery, and will immediately thereafter deliver to Colonel Watts full equivalents therefor from the garrison of Fort Gaines, now in our hands, according to our agreement of August 23. The prisoners whom you deliver to me to be paroled not to render service until the equivalents are already delivered for them.

I have information that the naval officers who were sent to the North by Admiral Farragut have already been exchanged there, which will, I suppose, remove the objection as to all except Admiral Buchanan, which existed as to the carrying out of my agreement with Colonel Watts for the exchange of the naval prisoners. I hope that the objection in respect of Admiral Buchanan will be likewise soon removed.

It is our desire to sent further supplies to our prisoners at Camp Ford, and I have the honor to request that you will furnish the same facilities to us to accomplish this object as you did so kindly in the case of those already sent.

Major-General Canby has, upon my report, since our last meeting, made renewed application to the authorities at Washington to have the prisoners captured at Fort Butler (Major Shannon and others) and those referred to in Articles II and III of the cartel of July 28 sent to him to be exchanged as agreed upon. I have no doubt but the application will be successful.

I inclose a few letters for prisoners and others.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

C. C. DWIGHT,

Colonel and Agent of Exchange.

RICHMOND, Va., November 1, 1864.

Honorable JAMES A. SECOND, Secretary of War:

On the 2nd of May last I had the honor to submit to you a detailed report, not only of the operations of the Bureau of Exchange up to that date, but also a full statement of the principles that had governed its action. Since that date there have been several deliveries of prisoners on both sides, embracing chiefly, but by no means exclusively, sick and disabled men. I have assurances that further and larger deliveries of this class of prisoners will be made during the fall and winter.

At the time of my last report we insisted upon the release of all prisoners, the excess to be on parole. The enemy refused to comply with this plain requirement of the cartel, and demanded when a delivery of prisoners was made and equal number in return. Seeing a persistent purpose on the part of the Federal Government to violate its agreement, our authorities, moved by the sufferings of the brave men who are so unjustly held in Northern prisons, determined to abate their just demands, and accordingly, on the 10th of August last, I offered to exchange the prisoners respectively held by the two belligerents, officer for officer and man for man. I only stipulated that the officers and men who had been longest in captivity should be the first delivered, where it was practicable. although this offer was substantially what had often been longest in captivity should be the first delivered, where it was practicable. Although substantially what had often been proposed by the Federal authorities, and would have left in their hands whatever excess of prisoners they might have had, yet it was not accepted.

Some time in September following I received a reply from a quarter to which I had not directed my communication inquiring whether the Confederate authorities intended to treat recaptured slaves as prisoners