OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS,

Washington, D. C., March 6, 1865.

Brigadier-General SCHOEPF, Commanding Fort Delaware:

Forward no more prisoners for exchange till further orders. Reply.

W. HOFFMAN,

Commissary-General of Prisoners.

(Same to Cols. B. F. Tracy, Elmira, N. Y.; B. J. Sweet, Camp Douglas, Chicago, Ill.; A. J. Johnson, Rock Island, Ill.; A. A. Stevens, Camp Morton, Indianapolis; Brevet Brigadier-General Richardson, Camp Chase, Ohio.)

WASHINGTON, D. C., March 6, 1865.

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

COLONEL: Your telegram of the 5th, giving your authority for forwarding prisoners of war for exchange, is received. My telegram of the 18th ultimo, directing you to forward prisoners who were or had been in irons or close confinement, referred only to those against whom some special charges had been made, in consequence of which, or under sentence after trial, they were held in close confinement or in irons. There is nothing upon the roll furnished by you of prisoners forwarded on the 23rd ultimo to show that they had been held on a different footing from other prisoners of war, and there was therefore no authority in my telegram of the 18th ultimo which required you to forward them. Captured guerrillas are prisoners of war, unles they are charged with some violation of the rules of war which subjects them to trial by military commission; but as it is at best a lawless organization, all such prisoners when not charged with some special offense will be held as prisoners of war, not ot be exchanged without special orders.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. HOFFMAN,

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

RICHMOND, March 6, 1865.

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

SIR: I have very frequently made complaint heretofore that returned Confederate prisoners are put down on your rolls as officers who are not so in fact. In the latter deliveries that you have made, particularly those from Johnson's Island, the case is so glaring that I am again compelled to call your attention to the matter.

In the Johnson's Island detachment, delivered at Boulware's Wharf on Friday, March 3, the following errors were detected before I left the wharf, the parties themselves protesting that they were not officers, and had so constantly declared to your authorities.

C. M. Franklin, Second Kentucky Cavalry, put down as a lieutenant when he was only a sergeant: John C. Wilcox, Second Kentucky Cavalry, put down as a lieutenant when he was only a private; Frank White, Third Tennessee, put down as a lieutenant when he was only a private; G. W. Offutt, put down as a major when he was a citizen (this fact is within my own personal knowledge, as I have known Mr. Offutt from childhood); George Russell, First Kentucky Cavalry, put down as a lieutenant when he was only a private; R. F. Harrison, put down as a lieutenant when he was only the sergeant major of the Fourth Kentucky Cavalry; S. H. Taylor, put down as a captain when