others where much reformation is required. I know that it is impossible for you to give your personal daily attention to the internal management of the prison, but with proper assistance I trust you will be able to give it enough of your supervision to insure as near an approach to a proper state of things as may reasonably be expected. You require as an inspector of the prison an active and reliable officer, whose duty it should be to inspect the prison daily in every part and to give all necessary orders for policing, and to make report to you in writing every Sunday morning of the condition of their prisoners and prison in every particular -personal cleanliness, clothing, bedding, quarters, messing, sinks, yards, prison rooms for special purposes, and the hospital and all connected with it. Let nothing pass unnoticed; make your comments on these reports and forward them to this office. Select from your command a suitable officer for this service and give as close a supervision yourself as your other duties will permit. Let the foregoing instructions be put in immediate force. I must rely entirely on your energy and judgment for the proper administration of the affairs of the prison, for however good your assistants may be, unless they are properly directed and controlled no satisfactory results can be anticipated.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. HOFFMAN,

Colonel Third Infantry and Commissary-General of Prisoners.

OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS,

Washington, D. C., February 29, 1864.

Lieutenant Colonel C. W. MARSH,

Actg. Pro. March General, Dept. of the Missouri, Saint Louis, Mo.:

COLONEL: I have just received a report from Surg. A. M. Clark, acting medical inspector of prisons, of his inspection of the Gratiot Street and Myrtle Street Prisons, in Saint Louis, from which I learn that they are in a very unsatisfactory condition. It is not worth while to go into details, for in almost every particular there is nothing to commend.

I know what it is impossible for you to give your personal daily attention to the internal management of the prisons, but with proper assistance I trust that you will be able to give it enough of your supervision to insure as near an approach to a proper state of things as may reasonably be expected. You require as an inspector of the prisons an active and reliable officer, whose duty it should be to inspect the prisons in every part daily, and to give all necessary orders for policing, and to make report to you in writing every Sunday morning of the condition of th prisoners and prisons in every particular - personal cleanliness, clothing, bedding, quarters, kitchens, messing, sinks, yards, prison rooms for special purposes, and the hospital and all connected with it. Let nothing pass unnoticed; make your comments on these reports and forward them to this office.

For a suitable officer for this service I request that you will apply to Major-General Rosecrans, commanding the Department of the Missouri. If he has none available, report to me, that I may apply elsewhere.

It is reported that one of the walls of the Gratiot Street Prison is in a falling condition. Have a special report made on this subject, with suggestions as to the best mode of remedying the evil.