HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF KANSAS,
Fort Leavenworth, July 22, 1862.

Colonel WILLIAM HOFFMAN,

Third U. S. Infantry, Commissary-General of Prisoners.

COLONEL: Inclosed herewith I have the honor to transmit a list* of prisoners of war now at Fort Leavenworth, both paroled and non paroled, 265 in number. The effective strength of the garrison of the post is but about 300 men, and being in close proximity to a region but lately a hotbed of rebellion and treason and at present far from being confirmed in loyalty, these facts render the safe-keeping of these prisoners somewhat problematical. With every inducement to break their parole, and there being such restricted means of watching them, the general commanding has not seen fit to parole those recently captured in the Indian Territory. He directs me to ask your earliest convenient attention to this matter that they may be placed where they can be securely guarded.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

THOS. MOONLIGHT,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

SPRINGFIELD, ILL., July 22, 1862.

Colonel WILLIAM HOFFMAN,

Commissary-General of Prisoners, Detroit, Mich.

COLONEL: I have the honor to make the following statement of the condition of the prisoner of Camp Butler: There are 2,250 prisoners at this camp, principally citizens of the States of Tennessee, Arkansas and Alabama, and captured at Fort Donelson and Island Numbers 10. There are no commissioned officers prisoners at this camp. As a class the prisoners are quite ignorant, wild, reckless and inclined to be insubordinate. Many of them, accustomed to a life of exposure and outdoor exercise, chafe very much under confinement. Many are desperate men and will resort to desperate measure to obtain their ends. Men devoted to their cause and unscrupulous in the means employed. They are treated kindly. They have all necessary articles of comfort. They are allowed every indulgence compatible with their position as prisoners of war. They are quartered in fifteen frame barracks and nearly 200 tents. There are about seventy-five prisoners quartered in each barrack. These barracks are arranged on a line, on the west side of the camp, fronting toward the east. Immediately in front of the line of barracks the tents are arranged in a double line fronting on a wide street running from north to south, affording ample room for the prisoners to exercise and adding very much to the ventilation of the camp. The barracks are provided with good bunks and all other necessary conveniences allowed to soldiers in the U. S. Army. These barracks are not the least crowded, but are poorly arranged for ventilation. I found that cleanliness was not strictly enforced in these barracks and that they were but poorly policed. The tents were generally provided with board floors and some were in possession of camp bedsteads. The tents I found in a much better state of police. The prisoners living in tents were very much the more comfortable. The barracks are mere shells of buildings, built by contract, poorly ventilated and

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* Not found.

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