utmost importance, will come to a dead halt for want of room. As long as 30,000 men are confined in any one inclosure the proper policing is altogether impossible. A long confinement has depressed the spirit of thousands, and they are utterly indifferent.

Manifold ways and means have been resorted to get out of stockade; 83 tunnels, some 20 feet under ground, and varying in length from 10 to 140 feet, have been discovered and filled up. One prisoners alone has made his escape through a tunnel. All the others escaped from the guard while at work at the outside.

The rations are mostly the same as for our own men, one-third of a pound of bacon, one and one-fourth pounds corn-meal, or one pound of fresh beef in lieu of bacon; occasionally beans, molasses, and rice is issued; vinegar and soap, both very important articles, are very seldom issued, as the commissary says he cannot get them. Scurvy is the principal disease, and it and all other diseases are in an undue proportion confined to the old prisoners, who were at first at Belle Isle, Richmond. The guard which I require for safe-keeping of the prisoners is entirely insufficient, simply because the men have to perform guard duty every other day; this, it is not necessary for me to say, is too much. With the exception of a portion of the Fifty-fifth Georgia, the balance are militiamen, and are perfectly undrilled and undisciplined.

A good deal could yet be said as to how and why the prison is not in a better condition, but I deem it unnecessary, as you have seen for yourself where the fault lays.

Hoping your official report will make such an impression with the authorities at Richmond that they will issue the necessary orders to enable us to get what we so badly need,

I remain, colonel, most respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. WIRZ,

Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General, Commanding Prison.

[Indorsement.]

ANDERSON, August 4, 1864.

Respectfully submitted with inspection report*.

D. T. CHANDLER,

Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General.

PARKERSBURG, W. VA., August 2, 1864.

His Excellency ABRAHAM LINCOLN,

President of the United States:

SIR: I have the honor to introduce to your acquaintance Waldo P. Goff, esq., of Clarksburg, in this State. A son of Mr. Goff, Major Nathan Goff, Jr., of the West Virginia Volunteers, is now a prisoners of war at Richmond, and in close confinement, being held as a hostage for one Armesy, who has been condemned as a spy. A rebel major has been placed in confinement as a hostage for Major Goff, but under the circumstances this is not calculated to hasten the liberation of the latter. His father visits you to ascertain whether something further cannot be done to secure the son's release from close confinement, and whatever Your Excellency may do no his behalf will be gratefully acknowledged by the numerous friends of the prisoners in this vicinity. It is pertinent to add that Major Goff, although very young, is distinguished for his gallantry and other soldierly qualities, is a true patriot, and most highly

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* See August 5, p. 546.

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