Chas. C. Dwight, January 31, 1865

Assistant Agent of Exchange, Mobile, Ala. :

MAJOR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 20th instant making inquiries in regard to Messrs. James Campbell, A. J. Ruguley, and E. Montgomery, denominated private citizens, lately captured by our forces and held as prisoners. The name of James Campbell does not appear on the books of the commissary of prisoners of this military division, nor has that officer any knowledge of the man. An inquiry addressed to the commanding officer of the naval forces by which he was captured may elicit the desired information. Mr. A.J. Ruguley was captured on the Mississippi River some months since. He is deseribed in an official communication of Maj. Ig. Szymanski, agent of exchange for the Trans-Mississippi Department, C. S. Army, as belonging to the Iron, Niter and Mining Bureau of the Confederate States. He is held as a prisoner of war.

Mr. E. Montgomery is also held as a prisoner of war. Heis described in an official communication of Lieut. Col. N. G. Watts, your agent of exchange, as a captain in the C. S. Navy, and he also adds that designation to his own signature to a paper lately transmitted from the military prison in which he is confined.

The prisoners of the garrison of Fort Gaines who were retained on account of sickness at the time of the exchange of their comrades will be delivered with the naval prisoners, which I now hope may be very soon,

I had the honor to write you yesterday inclosing a permission for the children of Mrs. Cobb to come within our lines, also informing you that Admiral Buchanan’s exchange is conceded.

very respectfully,