Unknown to Officers and Soldiers in the Operations in Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, Indian Territory, March 23, 1864

GENERAL ORDERS, ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL’S OFFICE,
March 23, 1864.
No. 38. Richmond, March 23, 1864.

I. The second and third paragraphs of General Orders, No. 8, Adjutant and Inspector General’s Office, series of 1862, are hereby revoked.

II. With a view to facilitate the organization of citizens of Maryland into companies, squadrons, battalions, and regiments, in accordance with the act to authorize and provide for the organization of the Maryland Line, published in paragraph I, General Orders, No. 8, above referred to, a camp will be established at Staunton, Va., to be called Camp Maryland, and a camp near Hanover Junction, to be called Camp Howard.

III. The troops now under the command of Col. Bradley T. Johnson will for the present occupy Camp Howard, and all other Maryland companies, squadrons, and battalions will, upon their written application, be detached by commanding generals from their present commands and ordered to proceed, for the purpose of being organized into regiments, either to Camp Maryland or to Camp Howard, as they may elect.

IV. All persons now in service in other than Maryland companies who are, or were at the commencement of the war, native or adopted citizens of Maryland, and who desire to join companies from their own State, will, upon their application in writing, with reliable evidence of their citizenship, addressed and sent directly to the commandant of Camp Maryland or to the commandant of Camp Howard, be transferred to the Maryland Line, and at their option will either be assigned to Maryland companies now existing, or, provided the number be sufficient, organized into new companies with the privilege of electing company officers. And persons now in service in Maryland companies who are citizens of other States will, upon their request in writing, accompanied by proper evidence of their citizenship, be transferred by commanding generals to any company from their own States in the army to which they belong.

V. Upon receipt of orders from this office making transfers in accordance with the preceding paragraph commanding generals are directed to forward the men so transferred to the camp designated in charge of commissioned officers, and they will furnish every possible facility for the prompt movement of companies, squadrons, and battalions as directed in the third paragraph of this order.

VI. All native or adopted citizens of Maryland who are not now in the Confederate service will, upon application to either of the commandants herein mentioned within the next sixty days, be enlisted into the Maryland Line, and at their option assigned to existing Maryland companies or organized into the new companies hereinbefore provided for.

VII. Major-General Elzey is relieved from the command of the Department of Richmond and assigned to the command of the Maryland Line. He will for the present take immediate command of Camp Maryland. Col. Bradley T. Johnson will assume command of Camp Howard. They will at once proceed to carry out the purpose of these orders.

8S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General.

GENERAL ee ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL’S OFFICE, No. 39. Richmond, March 24, 1864.

The following act of Congress is published for the information of those interested:

AN ACT to authorize the impressment of meat for the use of the Army, under certain circumstances.

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That whenever the President shall declare that the public exigencies render it necessary, impressments of meat, for the use of the Army, may be made from any supplies that may exist in the country, under the express condition that just compensation shall be afforded to the owner of the meat taken or impressed, and subject to the following restrictions and limitations:

Sec. 2. The power to direct such impressments shall be conferred upon the Secretary of War; but he shall not reduce the supplies of any person below onehalf of the quantity usually allowed for the support of himself, his family, and dependents for the year. He shall exercise the said power by orders directed to the officers or agents he may employ, who shall have explicit instructions as to the mode of its execution, and injunctions that the same shall not be abused.

Sec. 3. That these orders shall direct that a notice shall be given to the owner of the meat needed, his bailee or other agent, declaring the quantity required, the price offered, the existence of a necessity, and whether possession is to be taken of the same immediately, and with whom the risk of the safe-keeping is to be, pending the negotiation, and in what manner the compensation shall be settled, in case the offer is not accepted—service of which notice shall be a condition precedent to any impressment or seizure by the impressing officer.

Sec. 4. That upon the service of this notice upon the owner of any meat liable to impressment, the owner shall hold the same subject to the claim of the Confederate States, and shall be entitled to just compensation, according to the provisions of this act ; and if the necessity is declared by the impressing officer to be urgent, he shall deliver the possession to the impressing officer upon his demand, who shall give a receipt therefor, as provided in the sixth section of this act.

Src. 5. That for the ascertainment of the quantity of meat liable to impressment under this act, and also of just compensation for the same, where the owner and the impressing officer cannot agree, the impressing officer shall appoint one loyal and disinterested citizen of the county, district or parish, in which the meat impressed shall be at the time of impressment, and the owner of the meat so impressed, his agent, or other bailee, shall appoint another, who shall, upon oath, ascertain the quantity liable to impressment, and the value of the same at the date of the notice served upon the party, which oath may be administered by the impressing officer, and which ascertainment of the quantity and value shall be conclusive evidence thereof; and if the assessors cannot agree, they may associate with them a third person, of like qualifications, to make said assessments.

Sec. 6. That whenever an impressment shall be made, under this act, it shall be the duty of the impressing officer to give an official certificate, showiug the quantity taken, the company, battalion, regiment or other command, for whose use it is required, the compensation to be paid, the circumstances of necessity that existed, which certificate shall be evidence of a claim against the Confederate States, and shall be promptly paid by the disbursing officer of the command for which the meat was taken, or by the chief of the bureau having charge of disbursements for similar objects.

Approved February 17, 1864.

I. The necessity for the impressment of meat under the above act having arisen, in the opinion of the President, these regulations for the exercise of the power of impressment are made, under the authority of the preceding act of Congress, by the Secretary of War.

II. The power to make the impressment under this act is conferred upon the commanding generals of departments, and of armies in the field, to be exercised by officers specially designated by them for that purpose, and also upon the chief of the Subsistence Department, and such officers of his Bureau as he may select.

III. When any impressment of meat is required, the impressing officer will require a statement of the supplies on hand, the number of persons to be provided for, the length of time for which the provision

is made, and will, thereupon, if he shall conclude that there is a cause for impressment, proceed to give the notice required by the third section of this act.

IV. The officer making the impressments will in all cases commence by giving a written or printed notice, which shall express all the particulars contained in the section aforesaid, and he will take care not to impress more of the supplies of any owner than the act of Congress

” V. If any question should arise as to the quantity of the meat in possession of the owner, or whether a reasonable allowance has been made under the conditions of this act, or in reference to the rate of compensation to be paid, the difference will be settled, according to the fifth section of the act. The decisions of the arbitrators appointed under this section will be conclusive upon both the impressing officer and the owner, and the settlement will be made according to the award.

VI. A report of all impressments under this act, whether by officers in the field or by officers of the Subsistence Department, will be made to the chief of the Bureau of Subsistence by the officer making it.

VII. The attention of officers in the field who may be required to make impressments under this act is particularly directed to the conditions of the sixth section, and they are specially directed to conform in all cases to the same. Any deviation from this order will subject the officers concerned to punishment.

VIII. No impressment under this or any other order shall be made of milch cows or of the breeding stock of any farm or plantation.

S. COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General.

CIRCULAR BUREAU OF CONSCRIPTION, No. 12. Richmond, Va., March 24, 1864.

The following is prescribed as the form of the bond required in the second clause, fourth article, tenth section, of the late military bill, and with slight alterations may be adapted to the cases of agricultural details: