Sir:

From the present situation of this State, the Council think, as I do, that the prisoners of war now in this Town should be immediately removed, and that it is most expedient to send them to North Carolina. They are accordingly marched off in charge of a detachment of Militia, under command of Col. Lide, who has orders to proceed with them to Wilmington, to forward this to you, by express, and to wait there your orders respecting the disposition of these people, and I request that you will as soon as possible give the necessary directions for conducting them from hence, under guard, to, and keeping them at, some secure place in North Carolina, at the expense of this State, and that you will not suffer them to be exchanged without my consent. I should have apprised you of this measure, and waited until I knew whether it would be agreeable, before I proceeded to carry it into execution, but the matter required dispatch, and from the readiness which your State has always shown to accommodate this, I had no doubt of your doing so in this instance.