COLUMBIA, February 5, 1865.

General S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General:

As to supplies, General Beauregard's suggestion is good. As at present advised, I do not think Southwestern Georgia is safe, and if safe I have not troops sufficient to remove prisoners.

JNO H. WINDER,

Brigadier-General.

NAVY DEPARTMENT, Washington, February 6, 1865.

Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War:

SIR: Complaint has been made by William James,who was a passenger on board the captured steamer Vixen, of his detention at Point Lookout, Md. He represents that he is a British subject. The Vixen, although sailing under the British flag, was without papers of any description, and the practice in such cases is to detain the officers and crew until the neutral character of the vessel be established. Those who are passengers only and are bone fide foreign subjects, having o connection with the insurgent Government, are usually released. This course is advisable in the case of James and nay others in the same category who were captured in the Vixen and may be detained at Point Lookout.

Very respectfully, &c.,

GIDEON WELLES,

Secretary of the navy.

[Indorsement.]

FEBRUARY 9, 1865.

The undersigned regards the recommendation in cases like this (of naval captures) as full authority for a discharge, and he accordingly recommends the discharge of William James, and he further recommends that the Commissary- General of Prisoners procure a report of "other cases in the same category," if any,a nd submit them for the decision of the War Department. Approved by the Secretary of War.

E. A. HITCHCOCK,

Major-General of Volunteers.

PROVIDENCE, R. I., February 6, 1865.

Honorable CHARLES A. DAN,

Assistant Secretary of War, Washington, D. C.:

SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge your letter of the 31st of January with inclosures and to make the following statement in accordance with your request:

On the 5th day of July, 1863, I received at my headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio, information by telegraph that Lieutenant Colonel Charles S. Hanson, commanding the Twentieth Kentucky, had surrendered with his command at Lebanon, Ky., to General John H. Morgan, and that Colonel Hanson had been paroled and left in Lebanon when the enemy retreated from that place. I called upon Colonel Hanson by telegraph for a report of the affair and received from him the following reply:

LEBANON, KY., July 5, 1863.

General BURNSIDE:

I was attacked about 7 o'clock this morning by General Morgan with 4,000 men and six pieces of artillery. I had only 350 men. I held out until about 1 o'clock,