the rate of 200 per day. They will be forwarded to New York with the least possible delay. There will be some 1,300 non-commissioned officers and privates in all. General Holmes, the rebel commander in this State, has no authority to release the commissioned officers confined in Salisbury, among whom are Colonels Corcoran and Willcox. I shall continue my efforts in their behalf and do not despair of obtaining for them an early release. I shall send by the steamer carrying the prisoners duplicate rolls, one to yourself, the other to Colonel Tompkins, chief quartermaster, New York City. Would it not be well to send from your office by telegraph instructions to Colonel Tompkins to furnish these men with immediate transportation to their homes?*

* * * * * * *

I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. E. BURNSIDE,

Major-General, Commanding Department of North Carolina.

OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF SUBSISTENCE,

Washington, D. C., May 28, 1862.

Lieutenant Colonel W. HOFFMAN,

Eighth Infty., Commissary-General of Prisoners, Detroit, Mich.

COLONEL: Yours of the 24th instant, transmitting a letter from the contractor at Camp Douglas offering to continue his contract beyond the 1st of July [is received]. No reason is seen therein for a departure from law, but the same object can be gained if you will direct an advertisement or proposal for a contract from the 1st of July to be immediately made and a contract completed.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. P. TAYLOR,

Commissary-General of Subsistence.

N. B. - The letter of the contractor is herewith returned.

J. P. T.

[Inclosure.]

TREMONT HOUSE, Chicago, May 15, 1862.

Colonel J. A. MULLIGAN:

My contract to supply the troops, prisoners, at Camp Douglas with rations will expire on the 1st of July next. The price being very low (only 10 85/100 cents), Captain Chirstopher when it was made in March last offered to make the contract for the entire time that troops and prisoners should remain in camp, but the fear of loss prevented me from accepting the offer, so it was made to end on the 1st of July as above stated. There are on the market here now large quantities of cured meats, such as bacon, &c., which make up eight-tenths of the meat ration of the prisoners, and it can be bought at a low price, about the same as the past three months. If I knew now that I should have the contract after July I should at once purchase a quantity of such meats as would be wanted, and by so doing could afford to carry the contract along at the same price, which would be carrying out the original idea of Captain Chirstopher. Parties having such meats will either sell them or pack them away for the summer within the next month, and when packed the opportunity to purchase will have passed except at a higher rate, and parties assuming the contract on the 1st

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* Parts omitted have no reference to prisoners.

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