Brigadier-General Preston to C. B. Duffield, June 18, 1864

No. 21. Richmond, Va., June 18, 1864.

I. The active campaigns now in progress must cause increased straggling and desertion, as well as the necessity for new material for the armies. The superintendent urgently calls on commandants for increased activity and vigilance in every branch of the service. They will issue special instructions to their enrolling officers to be active and energetic in obtaining every man fitted for the field, and in sending back all who are improperly absent. The superintendent learns there is some relaxation in the service. From every State reports are received of men not called into the Army, and vast numbers are unduly absent from their posts. There has been no moment during the war when such a state of things was more to be deprecated. It must be corrected. Enrolling officers must be rigid, active, and vigilant, or be held to strict accountability for negligence.

II. The delays which have occurred in forwarding applications for exemptions and details have been productive of serious inconvenience to the parties interested and of injury to the Army and country. Every consideration of duty and patriotism demands that the officers of the Government should exhibit a devotion and energy commensurate with the urgent necessities of the Army and the country. Indolence in such an emergency is highly criminal. Every application should receive immediate attention. The ranks of the Army must be filled up. The places of the gallant men who have been stricken down in the noble discharge of duty must be supplied as promptly as practicable. This cannot be done unless the officers of conscription shall give themselves with entire devotion to the discharge of the duties required of them. Appeals taken by parties must be forwarded forthwith, and no excuse will be received for withholding such papers. In cases where there is any show of merit, and the parties are in pursuit of the occupation for which exemption or detail is asked, they should not be disturbed till final action is taken. The reports of the enrolling officers are frequently too meager and unsatisfactory to enable the Bureau to decide the cases submitted. It is hoped that this defect, to which the Bureau has had frequent occasion to call attention, will in the future be corrected. In all agricultural cases it is desired that the reports should state the probable amount of the surplus produced by the applicant, and in all cases where assigning the party to the Army will cast his family upon the community for support the report should state what provision has been made by the State or county authorities for their maintenance and protection.

Enrolling officers should be carefully instructed upon these points.

By order of Brigadier-General Preston, superintendent: