John W. Uriely to Confederate Army, March 25, 1865

No. 15. Richmond, Va., March 25, 1865.

I. The attention of the Army is directed to the following act of Congress, authorizing the consolidation of companies, battalions, and regiments. The casualties of war have reduced many commands below the minimum specified in the act, and rendered necessary the reorganization of the armies of the Confederacy. The number of company and regimental organizations will be diminished, and a long list of valuable and meritorious officers will inevitably lose their commissions; but this can never be a cause for censure or reproach. It is a measure demanded by the public interest, and involves no imputation upon the character or conduct of any officer:

AN ACT to authorize the consolidation of companies, battalions, and regiments.

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That whenever any companies which are now in the service shall be so reduced as to number less than thirty-two men, rank and file, present and fit for duty, and when it shall be proved to the satisfaction of the Secretary of War, or the general commanding the department or the army in which said companies may be serving, that they cannot be recruited to that number within a reasonable time, the general commanding said department or army may, under general regulations to be issued by the Secretary of War, consolidate such companies.

Src. 2. That new companies may be organized from the non-commissioned officers and privates of the companies thus consolidated, if they are from the same State, having a number, rank and file, not less than sixty-four nor more than one hundred and twenty-five, and the commissioned officers of said companies thus organized shall be one captain and one first and one second lieutenants, and the non-commissioned officers, four sergeants and four corporals.

Src. 3. Whenever the consolidation of companies, battalions, and regiments shall have been determined upon, in accordance with the provisions of the first section of this act, the general commanding the department or separate army in which such reduced organizations are serving shall recommend, from the officers and men of the several organizations which it is proposed to consolidate, the officers for the command of the new organization, who shall forthwith assume the respective commands to which they may be assigned by the general commanding the department or separate army, subject to the subsequent appointment of the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

Src. 4. Officers of the organization consolidated, not selected as officers of the new organizations, shall forthwith be notified of the fact, and from that time shall be dropped from the rolls. Such officers may, within sixty days after the consolidation of their command, organize themselves in numbers sufficient to form companies, battalions, or regiments, and shall be officered from among themselves, by appointment of the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and the generals commanding the armies to which the consolidated organizations belong shall afford reasonable facilities for forming such organizations. The officers so dropped shall have the privilege of selecting the company and arm of the service in which they may desire to serve, whether such company belongs to the army with which they are now connected or some other army of the Confederate States, and shall be entitled to transportation to such company; and failin to make such selection, such officers, if liable to military duty, shall be conscribe and placed in the service where they may be found; but no officer in the hands of the enemy shall be dropped from the rolls by reason of anything contained in this section: Provided, That no officer shall be permitted to select a company on the opposite side of the Mississippi River from where he is now on duty, unless he resides beyond said river.

Sec. 5. That hereafter all vacancies in the office of second lieutenant shall be filled by selections in the manner pointed out by the third section of this act, and all officers who may have belonged to the disbanded organizations, and who may be appointed to the same grade in the new which they held in the old organization, shall take rank from the date of their first commission or appointment; and hereafter, should the new companies organized under the provisions of this act become reduced in number so as to have less than thirty-two men, rank and file, present and fit for duty, and a vacancy shall occur in the office of second lieutenant, the same shall not be filled; and should it be reduced below the number of sixteen, then a vacancy in the office of first lieutenant shall not be filled.

Src. 6. That the office of ensign of battalions and regiments is hereby abolished, and hereafter the officer commanding a battalion or regiment shall assign, to act as color-bearer, a non-commissioned officer or private from his command, who may be distinguished for meritorious or soldierly conduct, or for valor or skill; and said non-commissioned officer or private, while so acting, shall receive the pay of a first lieutenant.

Sec. 7. The general commanding the department or army shall designate the names of the battalions or regiments organized under the provisions of this act; and the colors of the oldest battalion or regiment forming the new shall be the colors of the new organization, and the colors of other battalions and regiments shall be transmitted by the Secretary of War to the Governors of the respective States, with a statement of the battles in which the battalion or regiment to which they belong may have borne a part.

Sec. 8. That all staff, line, and other officers who may not have any command, or who may at any time be on duty for a period exceeding thirty days, unless they belong to the Invalid Corps, or are prisoners of war, or are sick or wounded, or absent by leave of the Secretary of War, or the general commanding the department or army to which they belong, shall be dropped from the rolls and held to service aS now provided by law: Provided, That the President be, and he is herevy, authorized to assign any officer thrown out of command by the operation of this act to vacancies in the staff, with the rank previously held by such officers in the service.

Src. 9. Prisoners of war may, within sixty days after their exchange, avail themselves of the provisions of the fourth section of this act, or they may be assigned or appointed to vacancies in the new organizations; and hereafter, when commissioned officers of companies, battalions, and regiments may be captured by the enemy, the general commanding the department or army to which they belong may designate, or the President may appoint other officers to fill their pas: as provided in this act, to serve with temporary rank and command, to be

eld only until the return of said officers so captured.

Sec. 10. When regiments, battalions, or companies shall have been consolidated under the provisions of this act, no subsequent consolidation of the same shall be made unless by virtue of laws hereafter to be passed.

Approved February 238, 1865.

The reorganization will be accomplished according to the following regulations:

II. The general commanding a department or separate army is charged with the execution of this act at such time as the exigencies of the public service and the condition of the troops will justify. He will ascertain the companies, battalions, and regiments from the several States in his army or department which do not contain the number prescribed in the first section of this act and which cannot be recruited to that number in a reasonable time. He will consolidate these under the first and second sections of said act, and according to the conditions of the same. He will announce such consolidation in general orders, designating the names of the new organizations, and immediately forward copies to this office. Care will be taken to have the names of all men for service transferred from the old rolls to the new.

III. The officers to command the new companies, battalions, and regiments will be selected by the commanding general from the officers and men belonging to the organizations that have been consolidated. They will be placed at once in command of the new organization, and remain in the positions to which they have been assigned, subject to the subsequent appointment of the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The commanding general should inform himself of their merits, and select such as are able for service and most competent tocommand. In communicating his recommendations to the Department, the former command, together with the date and grade of former commissions, will be stated.

IV. The commanding general of the department or army, who shall reorganize his army under this act, will cause a list to be prepared of all the officers of his army or department who are not designated for command, except those in the hands of the enemy, and publish the same in orders. Copies of said orders will be promptly forwarded to the Adjutant and Inspector General, who will cause the names of all such officers to be dropped from the rolls of the Army, to take effect from the date of the publication of the order at the headquarters of the department or army. The names will also be announced in general orders from this office.

V. Within sixty days from the publication of the names of said officers at the headquarters of the army or department, each officer will select and join a company in some branch of the service east of the Mississippi River, if he resides and is in service on this side of said river, or be subject to conscription wherever he may be found. Such officers may, however, form themselves into new organizations, which shall be officered from among themselves by appointment of the President. The organization will be conducted under the direction of the general commanding, who is required to afford reasonable facilities.

VI. The various chiefs of bureaus will furnish to the Secretary of War a list of all the officers in their respective departments who become supernumeraries under the eighth section of the act aforesaid, in order that their names be dropped from the rolls under the provisions of the same.

VII. The office of ensign of battalions and regiments has been abolished by this act. Their names will be dropped from the rolls from the date of this order. Each ensign will be permitted to select the company to which he desires to attach himself, under the conditions contained in paragraph V.

VIII. The commanding general is authorized under the ninth section of this act to designate officers to supply vacancies that may occur in any regiment, battalion, or company organization by the capture of the officer in command. In all such cases the commanding general will promptly communicate to the Department the name of the officer so designated.

IX. The colors of all battalions and regiments which are consolidated, except those selected for the new organizations, will be forwarded to the Adjutant and Inspector General, with a statement of the battles in which the battalion or regiment to which they belong may have participated.

S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General.

Richmond, VA., March 25, 18665.

Str: I have the honor to inform you that you have been appointed a colonel in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States, with authority to raise a regiment in that portion of the State of Texas in which the conscript law cannot be enforced, and elsewhere of persons not liable to military service under that law.

If the regiment is not complete within four months from the date of appointment the authority will expire. Deserters and absentees from other commands will be carefully excluded. When the regiment is raised it will be mustered into the service for the war, and the muster-rolls and the certificates of election of officers forwarded to this office for organization in the orders of the War Department

By command of the Secretary of War.