FLAG-OF-TRUCE STEAMER NEW YORK,

Venus Point, Savannah River, November 29, 1864.

Major-General BUTLER, Commissioner for Exchange, &c.:

GENERAL: Since the proposition made on the part of our Government to the Confederate authorities, relative to furnishing our respective prisoners with supplies, was submitted to them, I have given the matter much consideration, and I find difficult suggesting themselves which, will, I fear, in a measures thwart the designs, or at least embarrass in no small degree the successful carrying out of the plan proposed.

The most serious of these is, in my estimation, the inability (as is apparent) of the enemy to transport our supplies in quantities sufficient and with that regularity of dispatch which, when this arrangement is once in operation, will have become a necessity for the proper subsistence of our prisoners at the various prisons of the South.

All the large prison depots are now and doubtless will be continued on the principal thoroughfares of the Confederacy. These lines must naturally be taxed to their utmost capacity in the regular demands upon them. They are also most liable to interruption and attack, in which cases the enemy might be only too ready to permit any disaster to prevent the transit of supplies for our men, and answer their just complaints by charging the failure upon our own Government.

The effect of any movement on the part of our armies upon the transportation of the enemy is to suspend all regular business and yield only to the demands of the emergency. This is clearly demonstrated in the case of Sherman's late movement, as shown by the fact that since last Friday they have been unable to deliver in Savannah a single prisoner. Some lines are cut, and other are unequal to the demands made upon them by the military authorities for the transportation of men and munitions. And now the question present itself under such circumstances as these, which are likely to occur frequently, What would be the effect upon our prisoners who might happen to be depended for supplies on a line so embarrassed, and would not the Confederate authorities claim justification in the failure on their part of deliver our stores in accordance with the agreement by charging the responsibility upon us?

In view of the difficult herein suggested, and to secure, so far as is in our power, our prisoners against liability to want and suffering, I have through it might be practicable for us to propose to the Confederate authorities the establishment of a depot for prisoners of war at one or more convenient seaport towns, and to meet a natural objection of the enemy to such an arrangement I propose a guarantee on the part of our Government that in case the said post should by any military operation be embraced within our lines then all prisoners thus coming into our possession should be considered on parole until regularly exchanged.

This may at first appear a very strange proposition, but I fee it is one the United States can well afford, in consideration of the assurances thus secured, that all supplies forwarded to our prisoners will be placed through our own agents within the reach of those for whom they are intended.

I have the honor to submit the foregoing for your consideration, and remain,

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JNO E. MULFORD,

Lieutenant-Colonel and U. S. Assistant Agent for Exchange.

(Forwarded December 7, 1864, by General Butler to General Grant for his information.)