MEDICAL DIRECTOR'S OFFICE,
Richmond, November 21, 1863.

Major PEGRAM, Assistant Adjutant-General:

SIR: I have the honor to report that there are 1,296 sick Federal prisoners requiring hospital accommodation in this city. The present hospital accommodation will barely be sufficient for 800 men. I request that the buildings known formerly as General Hospitals Nos. 20 and 23 be secured by the quartermaster and opened as prison hospitals at once. The Texas Hospital which I designed opening is reported as unfit for this purpose from the difficulty of guarding it.

Very respectfully,

WM. A. CARRINGTON,
Medical Director.