State of Indiana, or contributed by the Sanitary or Christian Commission. The committee also distributed the towels, handkerchiefs, reading matter, stationery, and house wives furnished by the Sanitary and Christian Commissions. The hospitals were first supplied with these articles and the remainder distributed in the other prisons.

J. F. BOYD,

Lieutenant-Colonel and Quartermaster, U. S. Army.

A. VON SCHRADER,

Lieutenant Colonel and Acting Inspector-General, Fourteenth Army Corps.

H. B. HUNTER,

Lieutenant-Colonel 123rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

JAMES M. SANDERSON,

Lieutenant-Colonel and Commissary of Subsistence.

J. W. CHAMBERLIN,

Captain, 123rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry.

OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS,

Washington, D. C., January 19, 1864.

Brigadier General H. D. TERRY,

Commanding Depot Prisoners of War, Sandusky, Ohio:

GENERAL: The instructions heretofore communicated to the commanding officer of the post contemplated the presence of a much smaller force as the guard than is now assembled there under your command, and this changed state of things makes it proper to modify the instructions somewhat to meet the necessities which the change produces. Heretofore the commanding officer has been to a great extent the executive officer of the post, and the guard being small, this arrangement was attended with no inconvenience; but with the large force under your command it will be necessary that you should appoint a colonel, to have the immediate control of the prisoners of war, as at this time, who should perform all the duties now performed by Lieutenant-Colonel Pierson, but making his report throughout, and not direct to this office. Colonel C. W. Hill, of the One hundred and twenty-eighth Ohio, whose regiment has been specially raised for service at the depot, will report for duty in a few days, and I respectfully suggest that he with his regiment be placed in the immediate charge of the depot, making it a command distinct from your brigade.

In the month of November, to provide against a threatened effort to liberate the prisoners, a large force was assembled at the depot, part of which now remains there, viz, the four companies Twelfth Ohio Cavalry, company Twenty-fourth Ohio Light Artillery and a battery each of 240 light artillery men, assigned as heavy artillery. As your brigade, with the One hundred and twenty-eighth Ohio Volunteers, will form an ample guard for the security of the depot, and as it will be difficult to supply so large a force on the island during the winter, I would respectfully suggest that it would be advisable to recommend a return of the above-named detachments to the stations from which they were ordered.

From a report just received of an inspection of the depot made by Surgeon Clark, acting medical inspector of prisons, I learn that the police of the prison is in a very unsatisfactory condition, and I respectfully call your attention to the matter, with the request that you will now give the necessary orders to insure that a proper state of police shall be preserved throughout the prison. The prisoners must