IN THE FIELD, January 12, 1865.

Judge ROBERT OULD, Agent of Exchange, C. S. Army:

I have the honor to inform you that General Canby telegraphs to Washington that a steamship was sent to Mobile on the 16th ultimo for the cotton, and that the delay has resulted from the neglect of those who were to furnish the cotton. The expense for demurrage is very heavy, and General Granger proposes to send the steamship North without the cotton, unless it is delivered very soon.

Please advise me of any information you may have upon this matter, and whether you have taken the necessary steps to expedite the shipping of it.

U. S. GRANT,

Lieutenant-General.

RICHMOND, January 12, 1865.

Lieutenant Colonel JOHN E. MULFORD, Assistant Agent of Exchange:

SIR: Reliable information has been furnished to the Confederate authorities that Colonel J. D. Morris and Major T. Steele, of the Confederate Army, are confined in the jail at Lexington, Ky., and are heavily ironed. It is further represented that they are to be tried as spies. Colonel Morris and Major Steele were acting under orders from the War Department at Richmond at the time of their capture. They had been ordered to go into Kentucky for the purpose of recruiting their regiments and bringing out soldiers belonging to the Confederate Army.

I now notify you and the Federal authorities through you that Colonel W. R. Hartshorne, One hundred and ninetieth Pennsylvania Regiment, and Major E. S. Horton, Fifty-eighth Massachusetts Regiment, have been selected for treatment similar to that received by Colonel Morris and Major Steele. Whatever punishment is suffered by the latter will be visited upon the two named Federal officers.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

RO. OULD,

Agent of Exchange.

HDQRS. DEPT. OF WEST VIRGINIA AND EAST TENNESSEE,
January 12, 1865.

Major General S. G. BURBRIDGE,

Commanding U. S. Forces, Lexington, Ky.:

I learn from a source which I cannot discredit that you hold in irons at Lexington, Ky., Colonel John D. Morris, Lieutenant Colonel C. K. Johnson, and Major Theophilus Steele, over whom is impending a threat of execution upon the occurrence of events which they have no power to control. Colonel Morris and Major Steele are regularly recognized officers of the Confederate Army from my command, and I learn that Colonel Johnson is also a regularly commissioned officer. I deem it unnecessary to enter into any argument with you as to the legality of such action. It is enough for me to demand for the prisoners in your hands the treatment to which they are entitled as prisoners of war, and to notify you that, painful as such retaliation will be, I shall resort to the most severe measures, if necessary, to secure justice to the officers and men of my command whom the fortunes of war have thrown into your power. It has been my aim, as far as possible, to alleviate the necessary hardships and sufferings of prisoners of war. Any exceptional treatment of