GENERAL ORDERS, ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL’S OFFICE, March 29, 1865

No. 17. Richmond, Va., March 29, 1865.

I. The following act of Congress, abolishing the Bureau of Conseription, is published, as amended by the subsequent act of March 17, 1865, for the information of general officers commanding reserves in the several States, and of all officers and others now upon conscript service under the orders of the late Bureau of Conscription:

AN ACT to regulate the business of conscription.

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the general officers commanding the reserves in each State shall be charged with the duty of directing and controlling the enforcement of the laws relating to conscription, exemption, and details therein; that the said officers shall report to the Secretary of War, through the Adjutant and Inspector General, who shall assign an assistant adjutant-general in his office to the special duty of receiving and arranging all returns, and discharging such other duties as may be necessary in the enforcement of the conscription acts.

Src. 2. That all applications for exemption and detail, except as hereinafter provided, shall be decided by the general officers having charge of the business of conscription in the several States. Appeals may be taken from their decisions to the Secretary of War, but during the pendency of such appeals the appellants shall be liable to military service.

Sec. 3. That there shall be assigned from the Invalid Corps, or from officers certified by the proper medical boards to be unfit for active service in the field, a sufficient number of enrolling officers, who shall report to and be under the immediate direction and control of the general officers conducting the business of conscription in the several States.

Sec. 4, That all conscripts shall be examined by the medical boards of the Army after joining the commands in the field to which they may be respectively assigned ; and every discharge granted by an Army medical board shall be final, and shall relieve the party from all military service in the future, when the disability is permanent and the cause of it is set forth in the certificate of discharge.

Sec. 5. a That if any conscript shall furnish to the enrolling officer of his county a certificate, under oath, from a respectable physician or from any Army surgeon, that he is unable to travel to the command to which he may be assigned, without serious prejudice to his health, or that he is seriously maimed or manifestly unfit

aAmendatory. Approved March 17, 1865.

CONFEDERATE AUTHORITIES. A ie ar rd

for field service, or shall present to such an enrolling officer a certificate of discharge on account of permanent disability heretofore granted, a furlough shall Be cranes to him until the next meeting of the medical board, hereinafter provided for.

Sec. 6. That there shall be assigned to each Congressional district a medical board, consisting of three surgeons, two of whom shall be Army surgeons, who, after due notice of the time and place of their meeting, shall visit each county of the district at least once in three months, and shall examine, for discharge or recommendation for light duty, all conscripts who have been furloughed under the provisions of the preceding section. Every discharge granted by the said medical board shall be final, and shall relieve the party from military service in the future, when the disability is permanent and the cause of it is set forth in the certificate.

Sec. 7. bIt shall be the duty of all officers and others employed in the military service of the Confederate States, and not actually in the field nor attached to any army in the field, including quartermasters and commissaries, commanders of posts, provost-marshals, officers of the Ordnance, Niter and Mining, and Medical Bureaus, and others, to make certified returns under oath, every two months. to the nearest conscript officer, of the names, ages, and physical condition of all persons employed in their service, which returns shall be forwarded to the general officer controlling conscription in the State.

Sec. 8. That for the enforcement of the duties imposed by this act upon the general officers controlling conscription in the several States, they may employ such detachments of the reserve forces as they may deem necessary.

Src. 9. That the Bureau of Conscription and the camps of instruction are hereby abolished, and all rules and regulations of the War Department inconsistent with this act are hereby abrogated.

Approved March 7, 1865.

II. The duties in connection with the enforcement of the conscription laws devolved by this act upon the Bureau of the Adjutant and Inspector General will be performed through an officer of that Bureau, to be styled the ‘‘ Officer of Conscription.” All reports and returns from generals of reserves, and all other official correspondence relating thereto, will be addressed to the Adjutant and Inspector General, and will, in all cases, be legibly indorsed upon the envelopes *‘Conscription Service.”

III. Commandants of conscripts, district inspectors, and enrolling officers will at once report to the general commanding reserves in their respective States, and all officers on conscript duty in localities not embraced within the commands of generals of reserves will report by letter to this office, indorsed on the envelope as above, inclosing a copy of their orders and stating specifically the duty to which they have been assigned.

By order: S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General.