directs me to acknowledge its receipt and to inform you that the prisoners captured may be sent to Richmond if you cannot keep them conveniently in Norfolk.

Respectfully,

A. T. BLEDSOE,

Chief of Bureau of War.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, October 8, 1861.

Honorable J. P. BENJAMIN, [Acting] Secretary of War.

DEAR SIR: I most respectfully petition to be paroled home. I have been for several years colonel of the Fourteenth Regiment New York State Militia and as such was compelled to accompany it to the city of Washington or suffer in my reputation as a man of courage. I preferred the former and led the regiment not only to Washington but to the field of Manassas, where I was wounded and taken prisoner.

While in the Confederate camp and at this place I have learned what I did not believe before that the people of the South were united and that the war will have to be a war of subjugation (if that were possible), and as such I am opposed to its continuance, and would labor for a peaceful settlement and an early recognition of the Confederate States as belligerent.

I am, with sentiments of respect, yours truly,

A. M. WOOD,

Colonel Fourteenth Regiment New York State Militia.

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, October 9, 1861.

MY DEAR SIR: I understand that Colonel Wood, the Federal prisoner whom you saw on the occasion of your last visit to your family, will petition the Secretary of War for his release on parole with permission to return to his home.

I have a strong impression that it would be good policy to grant his petition, as I believe him to be fully satisfied that the attempt on the part of his section to subjugate the South is both unrighteous and impracticable. There is also reason to believe, as is expressly alleged by apparently competent witnesses, that Colonel Wood is a man of considerable political influence with a party already somewhat disposed to utter a protest against the continuance of the unholy war.

It does not, however, become me to urge these considerations upon the attention of the authorities in the War Department. My object is simply to bear testimony to the fact that Colonel Wood, after a sojourn among us of two months, has made the most favorable impression among all who have seen him and has convinced us that he is not only sincerely grateful for the kindness shown him in the period of his bodily suffering but that he will remain in future a constant friend to the South.

I am, most respectfully and truly, yours,

J. L. CABELL.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF NORFOLK,
October 14, 1861.

General S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General.

SIR: I inclose* herewith a letter dated 10th instant received from Flag Officer L. M. Goldsborough. I observe he states "he has no

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*Omitted here; Goldsborough to Huger, October 10, p. 50.

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