If the company is required there permanently as probably it will be I will ask authority to call on you for another company to be added to the battalion.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
W. HOFFMAN,
Colonel Third Infantry, Commissary-General of Prisoners.
OFFICE COMMISSARY-GENERAL OF PRISONERS,
June 26, 1862.
Major W. S. PIERSON,
Commanding Depot of Prisoners of War, Sandusky, Ohio.
MAJOR: The company which will arrive to-day from Camp Chase will remove any possible chance of an attempt at revolt by the prisoners, which even without its presence I looked upon as scarcely within the range of possibility. Though not belonging to the battalion the company must perform the same duty and be subject to the same discipline as the other companies. A thorough system of drill must be carried out. Your guards are already strong enough and need not be increased in consequence of the presence of this company.
Kindness alone will not keep prisoners in subjection, and when you can single out a turbulent character you must resort to severe measures. You have the power and you are responsible that it is well executed.
I hope you have secured the services of a good hospital steward. The situation is a very desirable one and there are doubtless many competent persons who would be glad to get it.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
WM. HOFFMAN,
Colonel Third Infantry, Commissary-General of Prisoners.
INDIANAPOLIS, June 26, 1862.
Honorable E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War:
An order has been presented signed by order Lieutenant Colonel Bernard G. Farrar, provost-marshal-general, Saint Louis, to release A. W. Clinard, of Kentucky, a prisoner of war at Camp Morton. Has Colonel Farrar authority to discharge prisoners? Answer.
JAMES A. EKIN,
Assistant Quartermaster.
JOHNSON'S ISLAND,
Near Sandusky City, Ohio, June 26, 1862.
Colonel HOFFMAN, General Superintendent of Prisoners.
HONORED SIR: On the date of -- February, 1862, I was appointed by the medical director (who had the authority) surgeon of the Tenth Tennessee Regiment of Volunteers and was acting in that capacity at my capture at Donelson, and hence my name upon the muster-rolls as captain, placed there by Captain Leslie Ellis, who with all the command was fully aware of the facts as to my rank and appointment as surgeon and captain. Previous to my appointment I was lieutenant. This is a plain statement of facts and I am to-day de jure and de facto surgeon of the Tenth Tennessee Volunteers and entitled to a discharged as per order releasing surgeons. The enrolling of my name as captain was
