Unknown, May 9, 1864

No. 8. Richmond, Va., May 9, 1864.

I. Medical directors will instruct the medical officers that in all cases requiring surgical interference in which no serious risk to life is incurred by such action, they have the power (in the opinion of this office, sustained by the approval of the Secretary of War) to compel submission to surgical operations. This opinion is expressed with the full appreciation of the mutual obligations resting upon the soldier and the service, and with the intention of securing the mutual advantages equally derived from a just fulfillment of these obligations. The power vested in the medical officer should be exercised firmly, yet with due delicacy and caution.

III. In view of their intrinsic value and of economy to the Government, and also the impracticability of procuring sufficient supplies of medicines from abroad, medical officers are again urged to avail themselves of the resources of our native materia medica by the employment of such indigenous remedies as have been prepared for issue by purveyors, or as may be found growing in proximity to every hospital and station.

SAMUEL PRESTON MOORE, Surgeon-General C. S. Army.

(To Medical Directors in the Field and Hospitals. )

EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Milledgeville, May 9, 1864. His Excellency JEFFERSON DAVIS, Richmond:

I have purchased 30,000 soldiers’ blankets for the State of Georgia now in the islands, and have to send out cotton to pay for them. The steamer Little Ada, chartered by the State, has been loaded for three weeks with about 300 bales of cotton, ready for sea. She lies thirty miles from Charleston. I ask clearance for her to go out now, while we have dark nights. She is detained at heavy expense to the State. I solicit an early reply.