OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS,

Washington, D. C., February 15, 1865.

Colonel C. W. HILL,

Commanding Johnson's Island, Sandusky, Ohio:

COLONEL: By direction of the Secretary of War you will forward the following-named prisoners of war to New York, to be shipped thence to Colonel C. C. Dwight, assistant agent for exchange, Division of the Mississippi, at New Orleans, for exchange, viz: D. W. Shannon, lieutenant-colonel Fifth Texas Cavalry; J. A. Shepard, lieutenant, Fifth Texas Cavalry; F. P. Steck, captain, Third Confederate, C. S. Army, Company H; A. Ridley, major Third Arizona Regiment; H. H. Hall, captain, Third Arizona Regiment; J. M. Elkins, lieutenant, Third Arizona Regiment; J. A. Darby, lieutenant, Fifth Texas Cavalry; A. M. Lyles, lieutenant, Third Arizona Regiment; W. H. Mitchell, lieutenant, Third Arizona Regiment; Thomas J. Bartlett, captain, First Corps, Army of Mississippi in East Texas, inspector-general First Brigade, Second Division; H. G. Bruce, captain, Twentieth Texas, Company H; Henry M. Ellis, captain, Thirteenth Arkansas Infantry, Company H; E. M. Heath, first lieutenant, Twentieth Texas Cavalry; James McKill, captain, Eighth Missouri Infantry, Company E; P. H. Pruett, lieutenant, Tenth Arkansas, Company E; J. M. Wright, second lieutenant, Twentieth Texas, Company B.

Place them in charge of a suitable guard and direct the commanding officer to deliver them to the commanding officer at Fort Columbus, after which he will report in person to Major-General Dix in New York, and he then will return with his guard to Johnson's Island. Send duplicate parole-rolls with them, and observe the usual instructions in the transfer of prisoners for exchange. Should any of the officers named in the foregoing list have been sent from the island, their names will nevertheless be placed on the parole-rolls with appropriate remarks to show how they have been disposed of. If Captain Bartlett declines to be exchanged let him remain at the depot, and make a note on the rolls. The quartermaster's department will furnish the necessary transportation.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. HOFFMAN,

Bvt. Brigadier General, U. S. Army, Commissary-General of Prisoners.

HEADQUARTERS U. S. FORCES,
Camp Chase, near Columbus, Ohio, February 15, 1865.

Bvt. Brigadier General WILLIAM HOFFMAN,

Insp. and Com. General of Prisoners, Washington City, D. C.:

GENERAL: In reply to your dispatch, inquiring if there are any prisoners of war on parole at this camp and by what authority, I have the honor to state that on the 31st day of October, 1864, I addressed a communication to the Commissary-General of Prisoners (a copy of which is hereto attached*) on the subject of employing prisoners of war as nurses, attendants, &c., at the prison hospital. From the indorsement of Brigadier-General Wessells you will see that authority was given for their employment and the precautions against their escape left to my discretion. Under this all these men were placed on parole (a copy of which is herewith inclosed+) as the best method of preventing escape. There has been no violation of this parole by any of them up

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* See Vol. VII, this series, p. 1068.

+ I bid., p. 1069.

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