honor to inform you, by direction of the Commissary-General of Prisoners, that while the prisoners cannot be allowed to purchase potatoes and onions from the sutler, such vegetables, when they are necessary as antiscorbutics, may be purchased from the prison fund upon recommendation of the surgeon, approved by the commanding officer.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

G. BLAGDEN,

Major, Second Mass., Cav., Asst. to Com. General of Prisoners.

WASHINGTON, D. C., December 21, 1864.

Colonel B. J. SWEET, Commanding Camp Douglas, Chicago, Ill.:

COLONEL: In reply to your letter of the 8th instant, transmitting plans and estimates for constructing addition to the prisoners' smallpox hospital and inclosing the same with a board fence, I have the honor, by direction of the Commissary-General of Prisoners, to inform you that plan and estimate for the addition to the hospital are approved. The work may be commenced immediately, the cost not to exceed $1,028.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

G. BLAGDEN,

Major, Second Mass. Cav., Asst. to Com. General of Prisoners.

Resolution introduced in the House of Representatives December 21, 1864.

Resolved, That if not incompatible with the public interest all communications in reference to the exchange of prisoners not heretofore published be communicated to this House by the Secretary of War.

Attest:

EWD. McPHERSON,

Clerk.

U. S. CHRISTIAN COMMISSION, CENTRAL OFFICE,

11 Bank Street, Philadelphia, December 21, 1864.

Colonel E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Washington, D. C.:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your favor of 7th of December, in answer to the request of the U. S. Christian Commission to send their delegates, with stores and publications, to our soldiers in Southern prisons. Allow me to thank you for the favor with which that request has been entertained and for the kind terms in which your reply is expressed. I would submit the inclosed form of a letter* which it is proposed to send (not yet forwarded) to Jefferson Davis, containing the terms of our proposition and your approval. You will understand the delicacy of our position in drawing up such a document. Both its form and the terms in which it is expressed are referred to you for revision and for suggestions of any needed modifications. I would also, as you request, forward the following names of gentlemen, with their residences, whom we propose sending upon the designated errand. They have signified their readiness to go, and most of them will, doubtless, be recognized by you as prominent Christian men, most loyal and true.

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*See p. 1262.

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