I request that you will communicate such as she may desire in general term, not giving particulars on which to base a claim for pay or allowances. Report after trial of a few days how far these instructions can be carried out without inconvenience and wait for final approval.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. HOFFMAN,

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

OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS,

Washington, D. C., February 24, 1865.

Colonel J. H. BAKER, Provost-Marshal-General, Saint Louis, Mo.:

COLONEL: Your letter of the 17th instant relative to the proper distribution of prisoners under your charge has been received, and I am directed by the Commissary-General of Prisoners to inform you that your understanding of the letter of instruction from this office dated June 29, 1864, is correct. Prisoners confined for civil offenses not connected with the rebellion, as well as those held under the special order of the general commanding the department, are not political or state prisoners, and should not be reported to this office; nor is it expected that any arrested simply on suspicion and against whom there are not apparently well-founded charges of disloyal acts, will be so reported. Many are arrested under circumstances which render their detention proper but a little investigation proves their innocence and entitles them to their release. The investigation in such cases should take place before reporting them to this office, and all parties reported under these instructions should be forwarded at once to Saint Louis and thence to some Northern prison, and not held at Saint Joseph or other points in Missouri.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

G. BLAGDEN,

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

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Washington, February 24, 1865.

His Excellency Governor BROUGH, Columbus, Ohio:

Lieutenant-Colonel Breckinridge has been ordered by telegraph to General Palmer to be sent to the State prison at Columbus. the Secretary of War requests that you will give directions to have him safely confined there until further orders, and also that you will inform me whether the arrangements at that prison are sufficient for the safekeeping of prisoners.*

E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

COLUMBUS, February 24, 1865.

Colonel E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General:

Dispatch received. Breckinridge will be taken and held until further orders. His safety would be insured and greater facilities afforded for

*For correspondence not found in this series relating to arrest, &c., of Breckinridge, see Series I, Vol. XLIX, Part I, pp. 764, 770.