hospital offices and store- rooms are in very creditable order. Requisitions are promptly filled and the books and the books and papers in good order. Hospital fund- the present hospital fund is $119. Purchases are mostly of articles of diet and appear to be judiciously made. The surgeon in charge is assisted by Acting Assistant Surgeon Wilson. Camps- the cavalry and artillery camps are well located. The men occupy wall tents and the camp is pitched in regular camp order. Most of the tents have board floors. Some are warmed by stoves, but most by outside fireplaces. The number of men to a tent is six. The camp is not trenched or drained. Cooking is done by company detail and the appliances appear to be sufficient. The grounds and most of the tents are in a tolerable state of police. The sinks are in tolerable condition. The sick occupy temporarily the post chapel, which will beds. Several cases of measles have just appeared among the cavalry. Proper measures have been taken for their isolation. The temporary hospital is under the care of Assistant Surgeon-, of the cavalry. The aggregate strength of the command for December was 1,284; aggregate sick, 156; deaths, 1. Baking- the troops and prisoners are supplied with soft bread baked at the post and of excellent quality. The bake- house and store- rooms are in very good order.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

A. M. CLARK.

Surgeon and Acting Medical Inspector Prisoners of War.

[Inclosure Numbers 2.]

HDQRS. HOFFMAN'S BATT., DEPOT PRISONERS OF WAR,
Near Sandusky, Ohio, January 11, 1864.

Lieutenant Colonel W. S. PIERSON, Hoffman's Battalion, Commanding Post:

COLONEL: I have the honor to request, in accordance with the instructions of the Commissary- General of Prisoners, first, that certain laundry, which need not be of any great size- say the depth of the hospital building (twenty- eight feet), fifteen feet wide, and ten to twelve feet high, and which might be erected at one end of the hospital building in the form of a lean- to; the furniture to consist of two 60- gallon caldrons, with stoves, washboards, half dozen buckets, and a sufficient supply of line for drying the clothes. Tubs can be readily prepared from pork barrels. Second, that a supply of hospital underclothing be provided, viz, 175 muslin shirts, 175 pair muslin or canton flannel drawers, 150 pair woolen socks; this clothing to be retained in and for the hospital use only. Third, that a sufficient supply of lime and brushes be provided to thoroughly whitewash the interior of the hospital at least once a month. Fourth, some method of ventilating the hospital wards is absolutely necessary; this may be attained to a certain degree and at a nominal expense by cutting two holes in the ceiling of each ward, two feet square, with wooden pipes of the same dimensions leading from them and out of the roof, and then properly covered with a board so arranged as to exclude the weather. Fresh air may be introduced by an opening in the side of the ward and at the level of the floor, twenty- four inches wide and twelve inches high, with a wooden pipe through the ward and opening under the stove, thus warming the air before it enters the room at large. Fifth, during the prevalence of the present severe weather an additional stove should be placed in two of the hospital wards, viz, the one for the reception of patients suffering