eral Foster that our officers had been removed from Charleston, and the rebel prisoners were accordingly removed from Morris Island, where they had been placed to carry out the above order; 313 men are now confined at Fort Pulaski, Ga., and 182 in the barracks of the provost-guard house at Hilton Head. I respectfully ask permission to return these prisoners to a military prison at the North, upon the following grounds; With the small number of troops in this department available at present for garrison and guard duty, the only places where I can keep them without danger of escaping are Fort Pulaski and the provost barracks here. Fort Pulaski is needed for use as a military prison by General Grover, commanding the District of Savannah, and for the detention of spies and doubtful characters, who are being sent back by General Sherman. The barracks here are overcrowded with stragglers, convalescents and recruits, continually arriving at this point in large numbers en route for General Sherman's army. The presence of these prisoners subjects our own soldiers of the above classes to great inconvenience and apparent neglect. These barracks are also the receptacle of numerous refugees and rebel deserters, who are arriving from General Sherman's rear in considerable numbers. Besides, the retaliatory object for which they were originally sent here having been accomplished by compelling the rebels to withdraw our prisoners from under our fire at Charleston, I would suggest that these men can be kept by the Government at less expense and with fewer guards at one of the regularly organized prison camps at the North.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Q. A. GILLMORE

Major-General, Commanding.

FLAG-SHIP HARVEST MOON,

Port Royal, February 13, 1865.

Major-General GILLMORE,

Commanding Department of the South:

GENERAL: I received by your aide a dispatch in cipher from General Sherman,* and I send you by my fleet captain the key to the cipher sent me by General Sherman. As it was given under injunction of strict confidence, I have to request that you will not permit any but yourself to see it; that no copy of it will be taken, and that it will be returned to me by Fleet Captain Bradford.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. A. DAHLGREN,

Rear-Admiral.

HDQRS. NORTHERN DISTRICT, DEPT OF THE SOUTH,

Morris Island, S. C., February 13, 1865

Captain JOHNSON, U. S. NAVY,

Commanding U. S. Naval Forces, Stono Inlet:

CAPTAIN: Allow me to convey to you my sincere thanks for your haerty and very effective co-operation in the late demonstration on James Island. From the intercepted dispatches and the testimony of prisoners it is evident that the object in view was fully attained, viz,

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*See 7th, p. 338

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