File No. 763.72111/2151
The Acting Secretary of the Navy ( Roosevelt ) to the Secretary of State
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of May 7, 1915,1 enclosing a copy of a personal note addressed to the Secretary of State by the British Ambassador at this Capital, in the last paragraph of which he refers to the action of the captain of the United States ship Iroquois in 1861, when he reported to the Secretary of the Navy in his letters of November 17, November 23, and November 25, 1861, that he had made arrangements to be informed of the movements of the Sumter in the port of Martinique.
It is noted that the Department of State will be gratified if it may be furnished at the earliest moment with copies of the correspondence above mentioned.
I have the honor to enclose herewith, from the original documents, copies of the letters, as requested.1
Copies of these letters are to be found in the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion, Series I, Volume I, Operations of the cruisers, January 19, 1861, to December 31, 1862, on pages 208, 209, 212, 213, 214.
Very sincerely yours,