ern," Capt. Wells; from which schooner Bailey took them
along with Capt. Wells, and brought them to this office. I had
a conversation with each one separately and then confined
them.

George Hull stated that he was in the 9th Virginia Cavalry,
from which he deserted some three months since; that he has
been in the Confederacy since 1862; that he ran the blockade
into Virginia on the schooner "Sarah Elizabeth" from
Philadelphia, loaded with an assorted cargo, and landed in the
Rappahannock river; that he did not know he was going to run
the blockade when he started. A man named Edwards, commanded
the schooner.

Nicholas McKee states that he was a member of the Home Guards
in King and Queen County, Virginia. He went into the
Confederacy by the same vessel and at the same time with Hull,
but did not know she was to run the blockade when she started.
Neither Hull or McKee know who loaded the schooner; both deny
all knowledge of their destination when they left
Philadelphia.

Samuel Lewis was a member of the 9th Cavalry, Virginia. He
states that he ran the blockade about June or July, 1863. He
sailed from New York on a sloop with fifteen or twenty barrels
of whiskey on board. They anchored under Ragged Point,
Virginia, on the Potomac river, where they unloaded the
whiskey. For some reason the men on the sloop got frightened
and left him on the beach. He does not know the name of the
sloop nor the name of the Captain, nor any person on board,
and he, like the other two, did not know that the vessel
intended to run the blockade.

It seems strange that none of them knew their destination
when they shipped, and it also seems strange that after
sailing from New York to the Potomac river, Wells had not
learned the name of the vessel which he was on, or the names
of any of his companions. He states also that he was the man
sent ashore in Virginia, to do the business, but says he had
to do it as it was orders from his Captain.

I have sent two detectives to see the schooner on which they
were found, and to examine the cargo as it is discharged.

I am, Colonel,
Very respy. your obdt. servt.,
H. B. SMITH,
Lt. & Chief.

The following letter to Mr. Plyle, introducing me as Mr. Shaffer, was
the commencement of negotiation