GENERAL ORDERS, ADJT. AND INSP. GENERALâS OFFICE, May 27, 1864
No. 48. Richmond, May 27, 1864.
I. The receipts of bonded quartermasters and commissaries and of agents of tax service are the only receipts valid to a producer for his tithe tax. All others are worthless and unjust impositions on the tax-payer. It is strictly forbidden that any other persons than those above named shall give receipts for the tithe.
II. In all cases of collections of tithes by officers of the Quartermaster and Commissary Departments in the field, receipts will be given monthly to the district quartermaster on tax duty. Such receipts must state the name and county of the producer.
III. Quartermasters and commissaries who have means of transportation, and all such officers collecting supplies, will give special attention to the removal of the tax in kind from interior depots to railroad stations and to the supply store-houses of the army.
IV. Officers with troops are prohibited from forcibly taking possession of the tax depots or appropriating the tithe. If they need supplies, requisition therefor will be made upon the tax officer or agent.
V. Paragraph II, General Orders, No. 107, 1863, is amended to provide that if conscripts accepted for field duty and sent to camps of instruction are, upon medical examination, found disqualified for field service but capable of performing duties named in section 8 of the ‘‘act to organize forces to serve during the war,” approved February 17, 1864, certificates setting forth the ground of disability and stating the appropriate duties in any of the departments of service for which they are best fitted will be forwarded through the Bureau of Conscription to the Surgeon-General for approval, and returned to the superintendent of conscription for final action.
VI. Paragraph II, General Orders, No. 6, current series, is amended as follows:
The decision of this board, if approved by the brigade or district commander, will be final. If not approved, it will be forwarded ‘‘disapproved” to the division or department headquarters for final action, when it will be the duty of the brigade or district ordnance officer to notify the company commander, as required in the paragraph to which this is amendatory.
VII. Officers of the Quartermaster’s Department will return to the quartermaster from whom grain is received the sacks in which it is contained. Failing to do so, they will be charged $1.90 for each sack not returned.
VIII. Post commanders will inspect the offices of such officers as are prohibited from employing able-bodied men in their departments or bureaus, and in cases of violation of the law, take the action required by the department and district commander, in section 9, act of February 17, 1864 (General Orders, No. 26, current series).
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IX. The attention of post commanders is called to the Nineteenth Article of War. The monthly returns therein required will be made directly to this office. The nameand rank of every officer at the post, and how and by what authority each is employed, will be reported in addition to the other information called for by the printed notes on the forms. Blanks will be furnished from this office upon requisition of commanders.
S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General.