[Inclosure.]

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, WAR DEPARTMENT,

Richmond, December 3, 1864.

The PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES:

SIR: I have received the following resolution of the House of Representatives referred by Your Excellency to this Department:

Resolved, That the President of the Confederate States, if not incompatible with the public interest, cause to be communicated to this House the nature extent of any arrangement which may have been made by the Quartermaster-General, or any other agent or officer of the Government, for the relief of our soldiers who are prisoners of war in the hands of the enemy.

In response I have the honor to transmit herewith a report from the agent of exchange conveying the information called for by the House.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JAMES A. SEDDON,

Secretary of War.

[Sub-inclosure.]

RICHMOND, VA., December 3, 1864.

Honorable JAMES A. SEDDON, Secretary of War:

SIR: In the matter of the accompanying resolution of the House of Representatives, I have the honor to make the following report:

The accompanying papers, marked respectively from Numbers 1 to Numbers 9*, inclusive, are copies of the correspondence in relation to the subject-matter of the resolution, and show what an "arrangement" has been made.

Orders were sent some time since to Mobile for the delivery of the cotton, and I hope it will soon reach its destination, if it has not already done so. The Northern journals state that General Beall has already been paroled for the purpose of discharging the duties assigned to him.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

RO. OULD,

Agent of Exchange.

HEADQUARTERS PRISONS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
Florence, S. C., December 6, 1864.

General S. COOPER,

Adjutant and Inspector General, Richmond, Va.:

GENERAL: Since my communication from Augusta I visited the officers' prison at Columbia and found it entirely unfit for the purpose, nothing but an open field, guarded by raw troops (reserves); the consequence is that 373 have escaped. I received while in Columbia, through the Governor, several complaints of these escapes. I immediately took steps to remedy the evil, and through the kind assistance of the Governor obtained a part of the grounds of the male Lunatic Asylum for temporary use until I could erect a stockade. I have selected a site at the fourteen-mile post from Columbia on the Charlotte railroad, and with your concurrence I shall immediately commence work on the stockade. The tract on which I propose to erect the work contains 960 acres. I would respectfully suggest that I be permitted

---------------

* Ould to Mulford, October 6, p. 926; Ould to Stanton, October 7, p. 929; Grant to Lee, October 18, p. 1008; Lee to Grant, October 19, p. 1009; Grant to Lee, October 20, p. 1018; Ould to Grant, October 30, p. 1063; Grant to Ould, November 6, p. 1101; Ould to Grant, November 11, p. 1117; Grant to Ould, November 12, p. 1122.

---------------