port, and only two casualties, one a slave of Mrs. Mouzon, of Williamsburg district, had his leg fractured by the explosion of a shell which was improperly lying about their camp, and a slave of Mr. Dinant, of Sumter, was injured by the falling of brick in Fort Sumter. The first had pretty well recovered and gone home; the other was only injured the day of the bombardment and could not be removed, through he was doing well and there was no fracture.

I found some difficulty in having the negroes discharged at the expiration of the thirty days. The exciting rush of events by which we were all surrounded furnished some excuse for this, but I persisted and succeeded; otherwise I should have resigned my office and made public the reasons, as I cannot consent to be connected with the scheme unless good faith is preserved toward those who look to me to protect their interests. I have further to add that the commissary department has been hitherto careless in issuing rations to discharged laborers. I hope that this difficulty will not again occur, as I have pointedly called the attention of the authorities to that subject and have received satisfactory assurances, and thus far since then a full compliance.

I feel that I would not have discharged my whole duty unless I called Your Excellency's attention to the fact that delays, annoyances, and imperfections must ever attend this scheme, though I hope that the main results will be accomplished; the working of the details requires the co-operation of the State and Confederate authorities. While I am in charge it is my specialty, and I am expected to be ready at all points; but it is not the specialty of those with whom I must co-operate. For instance, the assessment of the negroes in an important part of my duty, yet I have only to certify the assessment according to the directions of the statute; still in its workings I find that I have to select an assessor for the owners, hunt one up for the Confederacy, and fill up all the assessments myself. So with the transportation department, with which under the law I have nothing to do; and as to agents and sub-agents, the compensation allowed by the statute is so meager that I am forced to rely upon Confederate agents and am subject to disappointment at the most critical moment.

The supply from Division Numbers 3, just put into the field, was very meager-only about 370; a few more will be added by hired substitutes, with which I have directly nothing to do. The number was diminished to some extent by the attack on Charleston, and further by the fact that the Confederate authorities did not have their agents on the Columbia Branch Railroad to receive the negroes, though they had expressly stipulated to do so.

I have made every arrangement to remove the negroes in case of here being any danger, so far as my authority extends. I have an agent on the ground all the time, and I am to be telegraphed the moment an attack is made, and will hasten to the spot. The negroes on James Island and on the main-land can be very easily removed-may be said to be in no danger, but those employed on Morris Island, Fort Sumter, &c., must necessarily share the fate of those points; for an attack on either of those points cannot be anticipated in time to avoid the risks of the attack without dispensing with the labor, which is most important; while the limited facilities for transportation renders their removal doubtful and difficult. I mention these facts only to record in advance my judgment in this matter, not that I or any slave-owner could with propriety object to this or any other necessary expense. The labor is

58 R R-VOL XIV