HDQRS. MILITARY DISTRICT OF FORT MONROE,
Fort Monroe, Va., February 22, 1866.

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

GENERAL: I have the honor to inclose the report of Surgeon Cooper concerning the state prisoners. Clay is better to-day than he was yesterday. He exercises daily in the open air.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

NELSON A. MILES,

Major-General, U. S. Volunteers.

[Inclosure.]

FORT MONROE, VA., February 21, 1866.

ASSISTANT ADJUTANT-GENERAL,

Military District of Fort Monroe, Fort Monroe, Va.:

SIR: I respectfully report that state prisoner Jeff. Davis is in the enjoyment of moderately good health. During the past week he, for some thirty hours, suffered from facial and cranial neuralgia.

C. C. Clay is at present quite unwell. He is suffering from malarial disease; is quite weak, restless, and without appetite.

Your obedient servant,

GEO. E. COOPER,

Surgeon, U. S. Army.

Deposition of John H. Patten, taken at the office of the Judge-Advocate-General, in the city of Washington, on the - day of February, 1866.

The deponent being sworn, deposes as follows, to wit:

Question. Of what State are you a native and where do you now reside?

Answer. I am a native of Georgia, but for the last two years I have resided at Saint Louis. I came to Richmond, Va., the latter part of the year 1862 and made it my home, though not always there until the latter part of the year 1863.

Question. Were you at any time in the military service of the so-called Confederate States?

Answer. I was not. I furnished a substitute and afterward, as a means of making a living, entered into speculations in connection with the supply of the army.

Question. What knowledge, if any, have you of an arrangement or conspiracy entered into in 1863, or at any other time, for the kidnaping and, if necessary, the killing of the President of the United States? State fully all the knowledge and information you have on the subject, setting forth the connection, if any, of Jefferson Davis with such arrangements or conspiracy and his action in relation thereto.

Answer. I know Jefferson Davis very well and have had two conversations with him in regard to a project to capture or assassinate President Lincoln. These conversations took place in July, 1863, in Mr. Davis' office in Richmond. The first conversation took place under these circumstances: A friend of mine named Lamar, who had served some time in the Confederate Army, said to me that he was about to set on foot an enterprise which if carried out would immortalize and enrich all who engaged in it, and he wished me to join him. I asked him the nature of his enterprise and he said it was to capture Lincoln and bring him a prisoner to Richmond. At first I thought he was jesting, as it seemed to me a mad project and next to an impossibility, but he assured me he was in earnest. I then asked him who was the originator of the scheme, and if the President and secretary of State, Mr. Benjamin, were know to it. He said that he had made a written proposition to the President and was backed up by secretary Benjamin and Winder. He further said that Winder had already assured him that Mr. Davis favored the project, but that he had not as yet received a direct answer from the President himself. I told him if