do their own policing, and as they are all officers it will require careful management to accomplish the object without exciting a spirit of insubordination and resistance. Full instructions have been given to the commander of the depot for the management and a safe custody of the prisoners, all of which you will find on file in his office.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. HOFFMAN,

Colonel Third Infantry and Commissary-General of Prisoners.

P. S. --On further reflection I would advise your retaining one battery of artillery at the depot as part of the guard.

HEADQUARTERS U. S. FORCES,
Columbus, Ohio, January 19, 1864.

Colonel WILLIAM HOFFMAN,

Commissary-General of Prisoners, Washington City, D. C.:

COLONEL: In obedience to your telegram of the 15th instant I have the honor to herewith transmit a detailed report in each case of the shooting of five prisoners of war at Camp Chase, Ohio. I took the statement of Lieutenant-Colonel Poten, assistant commandant of prisons, in the cases occurring in the months of November and December last, as the best evidence in those cases, the officers of the Fifteenth Regiment Invalid Corps having been transferred to Chicago, Ill.

I am, colonel, very respectfully, your most obedient,

WM. WALLACE,

Fifteenth Ohio Volunteers, Commanding.

[Inclosure Numbers 1.]

OFFICE OF MILITARY PRISONS,

Camp Chase, Ohio, January 17, 1864.

Colonel W. WALLACE, Commanding Camp Chase:

COLONEL: According to your order received I have the honor to make the following statement: On the night of December 19, 1863, between the hours of 10 and 12 p. m., I was ascending the stairs of the parapet round prison Numbers 2, when I heard to discharge of a musket. Inspecting the different sentinels around the parapet, I came to a man, Private F. Allen, Twelfth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, who told me that he had ordered, in a loud voice, the persons in mess Numbers 10, prison 1, to extinguish the light inside, but not being obeyed, after repeated calls, he fired off his piece into the building and wounded one man in the arm, named Henry Hupman, Twentieth Virginia Cavalry, Company E. He was put directly under treatment of the surgeon in charge of the prison hospital, but whilst amputating his arm, several days afterward, he died. As sad as this case may be, to wound a perhaps innocent man, by a soldier who obeys his order, it has proved to be a most excellent lesson, very much needed in that prison--Numbers 1--as the rebel officers confined in that prison showed frequently before a disposition to disobey the orders given to them by our men on duty. They have since charged their minds and obey.

I am, colonel, yours, very respectfully,

A. H. POTEN,

Lieutenant Colonel Seventh Regiment Invalid Corps, Asst. Comdt. of Prison.