[First indorsement.]

OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS,

August 3, 1863.

Respectfully referred to the Secretary of War. The release of Mrs. Judd is not recommended.

W. HOFFMAN,

Colonel Third Infantry and Commissary-General of Prisoners.

[Second indorsement.]

Referring to the opinion of the provost-judge (Fitch); to that of the commanding officer of the prison (Major Hendrickson); the probable state of health of Mrs. Judd, as certified by the physician; the length of time she has been in the prison; the position of General Rosecrans and his duties (not enabling him to examine personally into the matter), I am of the opinion that Mrs. Judd may with propriety be discharged, and I accordingly recommend it.

E. A. HITCHCOCK,

Major-General, &c.

[Third indorsement.]

WAR DEPARTMENT, August 6, 1863.

The recommendation of General Hitchcock is approved. Respectfully returned to the Commissary-General of Prisoners.

By order of the Secretary of War:

JAS. A. HARDIE,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

Extract from report of inspection of the Gratiot Street Prison Hospital, at Saint Louis, Mo., dated July 25, 1863, by John L. Le Conte, surgeon of volunteers, acting medical inspector, U. S. Army.

The prison (the McDowell Medical College Building) is in very nearly the same condition as when last inspected. It is still under the charge of W. J. Masterson, of the provost-marshal's department. There are now but 249 prisoners. The rooms are in as good a state of police as is practicable with dilapidated floors and ceilings. When scrubbing is done the water leaks through from one story to another. The cooking is done with care by prisoners, and, with much other work of a laborious nature; [they] receive no compensation. The diet is not composed of a sufficient variety of vegetable food. As in Myrtle Street Prison, the prison fund has gone on steadily accumulating and now amounts to something near $4,000. Many of the window sills are dilapidated and should be protected with slabs either of wood, stone, or iron. A moderate number of windows are without bars. These defects invite attempts on the part of the prisoners to escape, and thereby expose not only themselves but the employees of the prison to the shots of the guard. The replacing of four or five wooden doors by movable gratings would enable the prison to be better guarded besides improving greatly the ventilation. The leakage from the officers' privy through a badly built wall into a large octagonal basement room, used as a recreating room during the day, is productive of inconvenience. respectfully recommend that such repairs and improvements as are pointed out in the foregoing paragraphs be made, so as to fit this building properly for prison purposes, and that means be taken to supply a reasonable variety of fresh vegetables. The improvements suggested last month for a laundry and bathing room have been in part made and