GENERAL ORDERS, ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL’S OFFICE, February 16, 1865

No. 7. Richmond, February 16, 1865.

I. The following act of Congress is published for the information of the Army:

AN ACT to amend the act to provide an Invalid Corps, approved February 17, 1864.

SrecTIon 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the provisions of the said act be, and they are hereby, extended to all non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates of the Army, and seamen, ordinary seamen, landsmen, and boys of the Navy, and the non-commissioned officers, musicians, and privates of the Marine Corps, who have heretofore resigned or been discharged honorably, or who may hereafter resign or be discharged honorably from the service, in ignorance of the above-recited act.

Src. 2. That the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, may, and he is hereby, authorized to reappoint to their former rank meritorious disabled commissioned officers of the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps, who may have resigned their commissions in ignorance of, or prior to the passage of the act of the 17th of February, 1864, to which this is an amendment; and in that event, the persons so reappointed shall be put in the Invalid Corps on the same terms, and with like privileges, as those constituting said corps, in pursuance of said act to which this is an amendment: Provided, however, That the President shall make no reappointment under this act, unless the person applying therefor shall have a certificate of one of the medical examining boards of his continued disability ; and any such officer assigned to active duty shall rank from the date of such assignment to active duty: Provided, That from and after the passage of this act, the compensation of retired officers shall be half pay, without any other emoluments or allowances, unless while assigned to duty, when they shall receive the full pay and allowances appropriate to their rank.

Approved January 27, 1865. :

II. Disabled officers of the Army, who resigned their commissions in ignorance of, or prior to, the passage of the act ‘“‘to provide an Invalid Corps,” and soldiers honorably discharged from the service prior to that time, may appear for examination before any one of the medical examining boards established by law, upon presenting their

affidavit, before the judge of any court of record or notary public, that their disability, from wounds or other causes, was incurred in the line of duty in the service. The time when such disability occurred, and the circumstances attending it, will be stated in the affidavit, and also the command to which the officer or soldier belonged. The affidavit of the officer will further state any fact showing meritorious service.

III. The Board, which will be composed of three medical officers, will examine the officer or soldier and certify to the character and degree of his alleged disability. The affidavit and certificate will be forwarded by the Board, through the Surgeon-General, to this office.

IV. Meritorious disabled officers will be reappointed to their former rank, and, when confirmed, will be placed upon the retired list. Their pay will then commence. Soldiers embraced in the provisions of this act will be retired by orders from this office only, from the date of which they will be entitled to pay.

S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General.