sels have been conveying troops till now. When these go up the 1,000 at Richmond can be received.

L. THOMAS,

Adjutant-General.

WASHINGTON, September 29, 1862.

Colonel D. H. RUCKER, Chief Quartermaster, Washington:

There are 3,000 prisoners at Fort Delaware to be taken to James River. The Adjutant-General has directed that they wait until steamers are sent there. It is supposed that the cheapest mode of transporting them will be by the steamers now employed in this river and the Chesapeake which have lately been engaged in the transport of prisoners of war between Aiken's and Annapolis and Washington. Please order such steamers as are suited and can be spared from the local service to Fort Delaware at once.

M. C. MEIGS,

Quartermaster-General.

OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS,

Detroit, Mich., September 29, 1862.

Colonel JESSE HILDEBRAND,

Commanding Military Prison, Alton, Ill.

COLONEL: Your letter of the 25th is received and in reply to your inquiries I have to say that my instructions of the 23rd require you to discharge only those prisoners who now belong to the Confederate Army and who were in that service when they were made prisoners-no irregulars or State troops nor citizens. Thos only are Confederate prisoners of war who are so designated on your rolls and they are to be sent to Cairo for exchange or discharged on taking the oath of allegiance.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. HOFFMAN,

Colonel Third Infantry, Commissary-General of Prisoners.

P. S. -Captain Freedly will be with you in two or three days and will aid you in classifying the prisoners.

W. H.

OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS,

Detroit, Mich., September 29, 1862.

Captain H. W. FREEDLEY,

Third Infantry, U. S. Army, Indianapolis, Ind.

CAPTAIN: After completing the duties assigned to you at Indianapolis you will proceed to the military prison at Alton and there obtain a list of all military prisoners who are not recognized as belonging to the Confederate Army. Make separate lists of the different organizations and let them be as complete in the details as possible. When the rolls give no particulars of the time and place of capture and the organization establish them if possible by the affidavits of officers or the most reliable men you can find among the prisoners. If there are any on the rolls as citizens who claim to be soldiers let them produce testimony to