MEDICAL INSPECTOR-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Washington, D. C., August 28, 1863.

Brigadier General W. A. HAMMOND,

Surgeon-General U. S. Army:

GENERAL: Medical-Inspector Cuyler reports "numerous cases of low form of disease among the prisoners at Fort Delaware, attributable in part to the crowded condition of the prison," and indicates the following sanitary measures as necessary:

Improving ventilation by making openings flush with the floor of barracks at intervals of fifteen feet; additional windows at ends of buildings; reducing the number of bunks by removing one tier; constructing wooden troughs in or near the buildings for washing faces and hands; urinals at convenient distances, with movable soil tubs or latrines, of ruse of sick in quarters at night, the distance to the sinks being considerable; ditches and drains to be kept free, and the interior of barracks whitewashed at least every six weeks. The prisoners have no bedding, and so little clothing that it is almost impossible to enforce cleanliness of person.

These recommendations could be carried out at small expense of material by the prisoners, and are approved and respectfully referred to the Surgeon-General.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOS. K. BARNES,

Medical Inspector-General, U. S. Army.

[Indorsement.]

SURGEON-GENERAL'S OFFICE, August 29, 1863.

Respectfully forwarded to the Commissary-General of Prisoners. It is recommended that the suggestions of Lieutenant-Colonel Cuyler be carried out.

By order of the Surgeon-General:

JOS. R. SMITH,

Surgeon, U. S. Army.

OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS,

Washington, August 28, 1863.

Brigadier General S. A. MEREDITH,

Commissioner for Exchange of Prisoners, Fort Monroe, Va.:

GENERAL: I have the honor to inclose herewith a letter from the Secretary of War and one from the General-in-Chief giving instructions in relation to the selection of a general officer to be held as a hostage for Brigadier General Neal Dow, of the U. S. Army, who has been turned over to the authorities of the State of Alabama. *

These letters are furnished you that you may communicate to the rebel authorities the orders of the Secretary of War, as directed by him.

In exchanges to be made hereafter I am instructed to say that as far as practicable prisoners of war from the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi shall be the last to be exchanged, those from South Carolina being reserved to the last.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. HOFFMAN,

Colonel Third Infantry and Commissary-General of Prisoners.

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*See Stanton to Hitchcock, August 27, and Halleck to Hitchcock, same day, p. 229, referred to Hoffman.

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