Lieutenant C. O. WOOD, Commander Fort Lafayette.

SIR: Mr. Soule having been released I request that such letters as may have come to your hands addressed to him while a prisoner in Fort Lafayette will be sent him under cover at the New York Hotel.

Very respectfully,

MARTIN BURKE,

Colonel.

OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS,

Washington, D. C., November 26, 1862.

Major THOMAS M. VINCENT,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Washington, D. C.

MAJOR: In answer to your reference of Governor Salomon's letter to me I would respectfully state that furloughs are not granted to paroled prisoners from any State. A great many are absent without leave. I do not know by what authority the paroled troops from Indiana were assembled at camps in that State.

All prisoners taken and reported previous to November 11, except a part of those taken at Harper's Ferry, have been exchanged, as will be announced in orders as soon as the printers can complete the printing. Those yet to be exchanged will be taken in the order most conducive to the interest of the public service.

I am informed by General Ketchum that the compensation of commissioners for drafting militia is fixed by General Orders, Numbers 99, at $4 per day. The rates of compensation for other persons engaged in drafting have not yet been established.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. HOFFMAN,

Colonel third Infantry, Commissary-General of Prisoners.

OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS,

Washington, D. C., November 26, 1862.

Major THOMAS M. VINCENT,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Washington, D. C.

MAJOR: I beg leave to offer the following comments on the inclosed* papers: Besides giving orders that there should be a reduction of the ration to Colonel Mulligan, Colonel Tucker and Captain Christopher I explained to all of them personally my wishes, and from all received assurances that my instructions should be carried out. So confident was I that this had been done that in my later visits to the camp I only learned that my orders had been wholly neglected, except in the reduction of the flour ration, at the closing of the accounts when the prisoners were ordered away. My printed instructions required Captain Christopher to furnish monthly accounts of money received and expended to the commanding officer, who was to forward them to me. Captain Christopher to furnish monthly accounts of money received and expended to the commanding officer, who was to forward them to me. Captain Christopher presented no such accounts. On the 14th July, in reply to a special call made on him by Colonel Tucker, by me order, he furnished to Colonel tucker a memorandum of what had accrued in the month of June. On the 8th of August he again furnished the same

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*Not found.

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