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for support; also, the only son of aged or infirm parent or parents, dependent upon his labor for support; also, where there are two or more sons of aged or infirm parents, subject to draft, the father, or if he be dead, the mother, may elect which son shall be exempt; also, the only brother of children not twelve years old, having neither father nor mother, dependent upon his labor for support; also, the father of motherless children under twelve years of age, dependent upon his labor for support; also, where there are a father and sons in the same family and household, and two of them are in the military service of the United States as noncommissioned officers, musicians, or privates, the residue of such family; provided that no person who has been convicted of any felony shall be enrolled or permitted to serve in said forces. It divided the forces into two classes: 1st, those between twenty and thirty-five and all unmarried persons above thirty-five and under forty-five; 2d, all others liable to military duty. It divided the country into districts, in each of which an enrolment board was established. The persons enrolled were made subject to be called into the military service for two years from July 1, 1863, and to continue in service for three years. A drafted person was allowed to furnish an acceptable substitute, or pay $300, and be discharged from further liability under that draft. Persons failing to report, to be considered deserters. All persons drafted shall be assigned by the President to military duty in such corps, regiments, of branches of the service as the exigencies of the service may require.

and wounded soldiers, if they give proof that their deportment has been uniformly consistent with their declaration.

No alien who has voted in county, State, or Territory shall, because of alienage, be exempt from draft.

"All able-bodied male colored persons between the ages shall be enrolled according to the provisions of this act, and of twenty and forty-five years, resident in the United States, of the act to which this is an amendment, and form part of the national forces; and when a slave of a loyal master shall be drafted and mustered into the service of the United States, his master shall have a certificate thereof; and thereupon such slave shall be free, and the bounty of one hundred dollars, now payable by law for each drafted man, shall be paid to the person to whom such drafted person was owing service or labor at the time of his muster into the service of the United States. The Secretary of War shall appoint a commission in each of the slave States repson to whom a colored volunteer may owe service a just resented in Congress, charged to award to each loyal percompensation, not excceding three hundred dollars, for each such colored volunteer, payable out of the fund derived from commutations, and every such colored volunteer on being mustered into the service shall be free. And in all cases where men of color have been heretofore enlisted, or have volunteered in the military service of the United States, all the provisions of this act so far as the payment or bounty and compensation are provided, shall be equally applicable, as to those who may be hereafter recruited. But men of color, drafted or enlisted, or who may volunteer into the military service, while they shall be credited on the quotas of the several States, or sub-divisions of States, wherein they are respectively drafted, enlisted, or shall volunteer, shall not be assigned as State troops, but shall be mustered into regiments or companies as United States colored troops."

1864, Feb. 29-Bill passed reviving the grade of Lieutenant General in the army, and Major General Ulysses S. Grant was appointed

March 2d.

1864, June 15-All persons of color shall receive the same pay and emoluments, except bounty, as other soldiers of the regular or volunteer army from and after Jan. 1, 1864, the President to fix the bounty for those hereafter mustered, not exceeding $100.

1864, June 20-The monthly pay of privates and non-commissioned officers was fixed as follows, on and after May 1:

1864, Feb. 24-Provided for equalizing the draft by calculating the quota of each district or precinct and counting the number previously furnished by it. Any person enrolled may furnish an acceptable substitute who is not liable to draft, nor, at the time, in the military or naval service of the United States; and such person so furnishing a substitute shall be exempt from draft during the time for which such substitute shall not be liable to draft, not ex-lery, and infantry, twenty dollars; sergeants of ordnance, ceeding the time for which such substitute shall have been accepted. If such substitute is liable to draft, the name of the person furnishing him shall again be placed on the roll and shall be liable to draft in future calls, but not until the present enrollment shall be exhausted. The exemptions are limited to such as are rejected as physically or mentally unfit for the service; to persons actually in the military or naval service of the Government, and all persons who have served in the military or naval service two years during the present war and been honorably discharged therefrom. The separate enrolment of classes is repealed

and the two classes consolidated.

"Sergeant majors, twenty-six dollars; quartermaster and commissary sergeants of Cavalry, artillery, and infantry, twenty-two dollars; first sergeants of cavalry, artillery, and infantry, twenty-four dollars; sergeants of cavalry, artilsappers and miners, and pontoniers, thirty-four dollars; corporals of ordnance, sappers and miners, and pontoniers, twenty dollars; privates of engineers and ordnance of the first class, eighteen dollars, and of the second class, sixteen dollars; corporals of cavalry, artillery, and infantry, eighteen dollars; chief buglers of cavalry, twenty-three dollars; buglers, sixteen dollars; farriers and blacksmiths of cavalry, and artificers of artillery, eighteen dollars; privates of cavalry, artillery, and infantry, sixteen dollars; principal musicians of artillery and infantry, twenty-two dollars; leaders of brigade and regimental bands, soventyfive dollars; musicians, sixteen dollars; hospital stewards of the first class, thirty-three dollars; hospital stewards of the second class, twenty-five dollars; hospital stewards of the third class, twenty-three dollars."

July 4-This bill became a law:

may, at his discretion, at any time hereafter call for any

Be it enacted, dc. That the President of the United States

number of men as volunteers for the respective terms of Members of religious denominations, who one, two, and three years for military service; and any shall by oath or affirmation declare that they such volunteer, or, in case of draft, as hereinafter provided, any substitute, shall be credited to the town, township, are conscientiously opposed to the bearing of ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or of a county arms, and who are prohibited from doing so by not so subdivided towards the quota of which he may have the rules and articles of faith and practice of volunteered or engaged as a substitute; and every volunteer who is accepted and mustered into the service for a said religious denomination, shall when drafted, term of one year, unless sooner discharged, shall receive, be considered non-combatants, and be assigned and be paid by the United States, a bounty of one hundred to duty in the hospitals, or the care of freed-dollars; and if for a term of two years, unless sooner discharged, a bounty of two hundred dollars; and if for a men, or shall pay $300 to the benefit of sick term of three years, unless sooner discharged, a bounty of

three hundred dollars; one third of which bounty shall be "Confederate" Military Legislation. paid to the soldier at the time of his being mustered into the service, one-third at the expiration of one-half of his term of service, and one-third at the expiration of his term of service. And in case of his death while in service, the residue of his bounty unpaid shall be paid to his widow, if he shall have left a widow; if not, to his children; or if there be none, to his mother, if she be a widow.

SEC. 2. That in case the quota, or any part thereof, of any town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or of any county not so subdivided, shall not be filled within the space of fifty days after such call, then the President shall immediately order a draft for one year to fill such quota, or any part thereof, which may be unfilled; and in case of any such draft no payment of money shall be accepted or received by the Government as commutation to release any enrolled or drafted man from personal obligation to perform military service.

Soc. 3. That it shall be lawful for the executive of any of the States to send recruiting agents into any of the States declared to be in rebellion, except the States of Arkansas, Tennessee, and Louisiana, to recruit volunteers under any call under the provisions of this act, who shall be credited to the State, and to the respective subdivisions thereof, which may procure the enlistment.

Sac. 4. That drafted men, substitutes, and volunteers, when mustered in, shall be organized into, or assigned to, regiments, batteries, or other organizations of their own States, and, as far as practicable, shall, when assigned, be permitted to select their own regiments, batteries, or other organizations from among those of their respective States which at the time of assignment may not be filled to their maximum number.

SEC. 5. That the twentieth section of the act entitled "An ect to amend an act entitled 'An act for enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes,"" approved February twenty-four, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, shall be construed to mean that the Secretary of War shall discharge minors under the age of eighteen years under the circumstances and on the conditions prescribed in said section; and hereafter, if any officer of the United States shall en ist or muster into the military service any person under the age of sixteen years, with or without the conment of his parent or guardian, such person so enlisted or recruited shall be immediately discharged upon repayment of all bounties received; and such recruiting or mustering officer who shall knowingly enlist any person under sixteen years of age shall be dismissed the service, with forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and shali he subject to such further punishment as a court-martial may diSEC. 6. That section three of an act entitled "An act to send an act entitled 'An act for enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes,' approved February twenty-four, eighteen hu dred and sixty-four, be, and the same is hereby, amended, so as to authorize and direct district provost marshals, under the direction of the Provost Marshal General, to make a draft for one hundred per centum in addition to the number required to fill the quota of any district as provided by said section.

rest.

Etc. 7. That instead of travelling pay, all drafted persons reporting at the place of rendezvous shall be allowed transportation from their places of residence; and persons discharged at the place of rendezvous shall be allowed transportation to their places of residence.

February 28, 1861, (four days before the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln)-The "Confederate" Congress passed a bill providing

1st. To enable the Government of the Confederate States to maintain its jurisdiction over all questions of peace and war, and to provide for the public defence, the President be, and he is hereby authorized and directed to assume control of all military operations in every State, having reference to a connection with questions between the said States, or any of them, and Powers foreign to them.

2d. The President was authorized to receive from the several States the arms and munitions of war which have been acquired from the United States.

3d. He was authorized to receive into Government service such forces in the service of the States, as may be tendered, in such number as he may require, for any time not less than twelve months, unless sooner discharged.

March 6, 1861-The President was authorized to employ the militia, military and naval forces of the Confederate States to repel invasion, maintain rightful possession of the territory, and secure the public tranquillity and independence against threatened assault, to the extent of 100,000 men, to serve for twelve months. May 4, 1861-One regiment of Zouaves authorized.

May 6, 1861-Letters of marque and reprisal authorized.

the President to accept the services of 400,000 1861, August 8-The Congress authorized volunteers, to serve for not less than twelve months nor more than three years after they shall be mustered into service, unless sooner discharged.

The Richmond Enquirer of that date announced that it was ascertained from official data, before the passage of the bill, that there were not less than 210,000 men then in the field.

August 21-Volunteers authorized for local defence and special service.

1862, January-Publishers of newspapers, or other printed matter, are prohibited from givSse. 5. That all persons in the naval service of the United ing the number, disposition, movement, or desStates who have entered said service during the present re-tination of the land or naval forces, or descripbellion, who have not been credited to the quota of any town, district, ward, or State, by reason of their being in id service and not enrolled prior to February twenty four, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, shall be enrolled and credited to the quotas of the town, ward, district, or State, in which they respectively reside, upon satisfactory proof of their residence made to the Secretary of War.

SEC. 9. That, if any person duly drafted shall be absent frota home in prosecntion of his usual business, the provost marshal of the district shall cause him to be duly notified an as he may be, and he shall not be deemed a deserter, liable as such, until notice has been given him, and reasonable time allowed for him to return and report to the provost mar-hal of his district; but such absence shall not affect his liability under this act.

Sec. 10. That nothing contained in this act, shall be construed to alter or in any way affect the provisions of the Seventeenth section of an act approved February twentyfourth, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, entitled" An act to amend an act entitled An act for enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes," approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-three.

SEC. IL That othing contained in this act shall be construed to alter or change the provisions of existing laws relative to permitting persous liable to military service to furush substitutes.

tion of vessel, or battery, fortification, engine of war, or signal, unless first authorized by the President or Congress, or the Secretary of War or Navy, or commanding officer of post, district, and imprisonment not over twelve months. or expedition. The penalty is a fine of $1,000

1862, February-The Committee on Naval Affairs were instructed to inquire into the expediency of placing at the disposal of the President five millions of dollars to build gunboats.

1862 Bill passed to "regulate the destruction of property under military necessity," referring particularly to cotton and tobacco.. The authorities are authorized to destroy it to keep it from the enemy; and owners, destroying it for the same purpose, are to be indemnified upon proof of the value and the circumstances of the destruction.

1862, April 16-The first "conscription"

bill became a law.

April 23, gives this abstract of it:

prescribe.

The Richmond Enquirer, of | tutes, under such regulations as the Secretary of War may Vacancies may be filled by the President from the comTo the law of Congress, as published, there were sub-pany, battalion, squadron or regiment in which such sequently passed several amendments or auxiliary laws. vacancies occur, by promotion according to seniority, exWe present the following synopsis of the law as thus cept in cases of disability or other incompetency.

modified:

The conscription law places in the service of the Confederate States, for three years, unless the war sooner ends, all white men between eighteen and thirty-five years of age, resident in the Confederate States, and not legally exempt from service.

The law is silent as to exemptions; but an act defining the class of exempts has since been passed, which embraces generally those hitherto exempt, with some additions.

All twelve months' men between the prescribed ages, are continued in service for two years from the expiration of their present term, should the war continue so long; and all those under eighteen and over thirty-five, are to be retained for ninety days after their term expires, unless their places are sooner supplied by recruits.

The twelve months' men between eighteen and thirtyfive, who are retained beyond their term of enlistment, and who have not yet received bounty and furlough, shall receive both; the furloughs, however, to be granted in such numbers and at such times as the Secretary of War may deem most compatible with the public interest; and the men may receive in lieu of furlough, the commutation value in money of the transportation granted to furloughed

men by the act.

The term of service of those who originally enlisted for the war, or who have since re-enlisted for that period, is not affected by the law.

Men now in service are not permitted to re-enlist in

other organizations than those to which they now belong;

and all re-enlistments that have been made from one exist

ing company to another, or into a new company, where the re-enlistment has not been perfected by actual transfer, are in effect canceled.

The President may, however, fill a vacancy by promoting any officer of the company, battalion, squadron, or regiment, who may have been distinguished in the service by valor and skill, without reference to seniority. Vacancies in the lowest grade of commissioned officers of a company shall be filled by election, or the President may promote to such vacancies non-commissioned officers who have distinguished themselves by skill and valor in the service. Persons not now in service may, before being enrolled, volunteer with existing companies now in service.

DAVIS'S CONSCRIPTION PROCLAMATION. [From the Richmond Enquirer, July 18, 1863.]

PROCLAMATION BY THE PRESIDENT.

Whereas, It is provided by an act of Congress, entitled "An Act to further provide for the public defence," approved on the 16th day of April, 1862, and by another act of Congress, approved on the 27th September, 1862, entitled "An Act to amend an act antitled An Act to provide further for the public defence,'" approved 16th April, in the military service of the Confederate States, for three 1862, that the President be authorized to call out and place years, unless the war shall have been sooner ended, all white men who are residents of the Confederate States between the ages of 18 and 45 years, at the time the call may be made, and who are not at such time legally exempted from military service, or such part thereof as in his judgment may be necessary to the public defence; and defence require that every man capable of bearing arms, Whereas, in my judgment the necessities of the public between the ages aforesaid, should now be called out to do Companies, battalions, and regiments of twelve months' his duty in the defence of his country, and in driving back men, retained in service by the act, shall be entitled, within the invaders now within the limits of the Confederacy: forty days from the date of the act, on a day to be fixed by federate States of America, do, by virtue of the powers Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Con the commander of the brigade, to reorganize by electing vested in me as aforesaid, call out and place in the military all their officers whom they had a right heretofore to elect. Companies, battalions, squadrons, or regiments organized, service of the Confederate States all white men residents or in process of organization, by authority from the Secre- of said States, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five tary of War, which may, within thirty days from the pass-do hereby order and direct that all persons subject to this years, not legally exempted from military service; and I age of the act, have the whole number of men necessary to complete their organization actually enrolled, not includ- call, and not now in the military service, do, upon being ing, however, in that number persons now in service, shall be enrolled, forthwith repair to the conscript camps established mustered into the service of the Confederate States, and be in the respective States of which they may be residents, received in that arm of the service in which they were auunder pain of being held and punished as deserters in the thorized to organize, and elect their company, battalion, event of their failure to obey this call, as provided in said and regimental officers.

To enroll the persons contemplated by the act, and not now in service, the President may, with the consent of the Governors of the States, employ State officers; if such consent cannot be obtained, Confederate officers shall be appointed by the President.

Persons not now in service, who shall be enrolled, shall be assigned by the Secretary of War to the different companics of the State from which such persons are drawn, until each company is filled to its maximum number.

Seamen and ordinary seamen, enrolled under the act, may, on application of the Secretary of the Navy, be transferred to the naval service.

If, after filling up the companies, regiments, battalions, and squadrons from any State, there shall remain any of the enrolled men, the excess shall be kept as a reserve; and at stated intervals, not exceeding three months, details, to be made by lot, shall be drawn from the reserve to keep the companies as nearly full as practicable. The persons so reserved remain at home until called into service, and receive no pay until actually mustered in.

They are not, while at home in reserve, subject to the rules and articles of war, except that if they wilfully refuse to obey a call of the President, they shall be held as deserters, and punished as such.

Whenever the President shall think that the exigencies of the service require it, he may call into active service the entire reserve, or as much as may be necessary, and they shall be organized under such rules as the Secretary of War may adopt, and shall elect their field and company officers. The reserves from each State, when thus called out, shall be organized separately.

Every man mustered into service, who shall bring with him a musket, shot gun, rifle or carbine accepted as an efficient weapon, shall receive the value of it as ascertained by the mustering officer under such regulations as the Secretary of War may prescribe, or if the owner be unwilling to sell, he shall receive $1 a month for the use of such

arm.

Persons not liable to duty may be received as substi

laws.

And I do further order and direct that the enrolling officers of the several States proceed at once to enroll all persons embraced within the terms of this proclamation, and not heretofore enrolled.

And I do further order that it shall be lawful for any person embraced within this call to volunteer for service before enrollment, and that persons so volunteering be allowed to select the arm of service and the company which they desire to join, provided such company be deficient in the full number of men allowed by law for its organization. States of America, at the City of Richmond, on this 15th Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate day of July, in the year of our Lord 1863.

JEFFERSON DAVIS. By the President: J. P. BENJAMIN, Sec. of State.

ORDERS UNDER THE CONSCRIPTION ACT.

ADJUTANT AND INSPECTOR GENERAL'S OFFICE, RICHMOND, July 20, 1863.-General Orders, No. 98.-I. All white male residents of the Confederate States, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, not exempted by law, and not already in the service, will be enrolled. Persons liablo to enrollment may be enrolled wherever they may be found.

II. The first paragraph of General Order No. 86, current series, is so amended as to read as follows: companies, battalions and regiments composed of persons not within the age of conscription, (eighteen and forty-five,) will be accepted as volunteers throughout the Confederacy, under the act of August 21, 1861, (No. 209,) for local defence and special service. Those persons belonging to such organiza→ tions, who are of conscript age, and neither exempted by law, nor already in the service, will be discharged, and reported to the bureau of conscription for enrollment.

III. The following regulation will be in addition to those heretofore published in regard to substitutes: Hereafter every person furnishing a substitute, in accordance with existing regulations, shall become liable to, and be imme.liately enrolled for military duty, upon the loss of the ser

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The Richmond Sentinel of February 17, 1864, contains a synopsis of what is called the military bill, heretofore forbidden to be printed: The first section provides that all white men residents of the Confederate States, between the ages of seventeen and fifty, shall be in the military service for the war.

The officers and employees of railroad companies engaged in military transportation, not beyond one for each mile used in such transportation, and under certain restrictions. Also, exempts mail contractors and carriers. either from between 45 and 50 or from the army in the field when necessity requires it, and may, when he thinks proper, revoke such details. Provided, that he shall not exempt or detail any contractor for furnishing supplies, &c., by reason of such contract, except the head of a department shall certify that such exemption is indispensa ble; the exemption to cease if the contractor fails to comply with his contract.

The eleventh section authorizes the President to detail

The twefth section declares that the Board of Surgeons shall not be appointed from the county or district in which they are required to make examinations.

The vote in the House of Respresentatives

The second section provides that all between eighteen and forty-five, now in service, shall be continued during the war in the same regiments, battalions, and companies to which they belong at the passage of this act, with the organization, officers, &c., provided that companies from one State organ-Was-yeas, 41; nays, 31. izel against their consent, expressed at the time, with regrets, &c., from another State, shall have the privilege of being transferred to the same arm in a regiment from their own State, and men can be transferred to a company from their own State.

GUERRILLAS.

1862, April 21-The President was authorized

Section three gives a bounty eight months hence of $100 to commission such officers as he may deem

in rebel bonds.

Section four provides that no person shall be relieved from the operations of this act heretofore discharged for disability, nor shall those who furnished substitutes be exempted, where no disability now exists; but exempts religious persons who have paid an exemption tax.

Section five provides for the enrolling of all white male eighteen, and forty-five and fifty, at such time and under such regulations as the President may prescribe; time allowed east of the Mississippi thirty, and west sixty days; any person failing to enroll without good excuse shall be placed in the field for the war as if he were between eighteen and forty-five. Persons mentioned in this section shall constitate a reserve for State defence and detail duty, and not

residents of the Confederate States between seventeen and

required to perform service out of the State in which they

reside.

Section seven provides that any person who shall fail to attend at the place of rendezvous appointed by the President, and not excused by him, shall be liable to be placed

in the field service for the war.

Section eight declares that hereafter all positions as derks, guards, agents, employees, or laborers on provost, hospital, or ordnance duty, or in the Quartermaster or Commissary Departments, and all similar duties, shall be filled by such persons between the ages of eighteen and forty-five as many bo declared by a board of examining surgeons to be unfit for active field service, and when these are exhausted, then from those between seventeen and eighteen, and fortyfive and fifty: provided that the President may detail artisans, mechanics, or persons of scientific skill to perform in spensable duties in the bureaux herein named.

The tenth section provides that no person shall be exerap: except the following: ministers, superintendents of deaf, dumb, and blind, or insane asylums; one editor to each newspaper, and such employees as he may swear to be indispensable; the Confederate and State public printers, and the journeymen printers necessary to perform the public printing; one apothecary to each drug store, who was and has been continuously doing business as such since October 10, 1802; physicians over 30 years of age of seven yars practice, not including dentists; presidents and teachers of colleges, academies, and schools, who have not less than 30 pupils; superintendents of public hospitals established by law, and such physicians and nurses as may be indispensable for their efficient management.

One agriculturist on each farm where there is no white male adult not liable to duty employing fifteen able-bodied slaves, between 16 and 50 years of age, upon the following

Conditions:

The party exempted shall give bonds to deliver to the Government in the next twelve months, 100 pounds of Lan, or its equivalent in salt pork, at Government selection, and 100 pounds of beef for each such able-bodied slave employed on said farm, at commissioner's rates.

In eertain cases this may be commuted in grain or other provisions.

The person shall further bind himself to sell all surplus provisons now on hand, or which he may raise, to the Government, or the families of soldiers, at commissioner's rata, the person to be allowed a credit of 25 per cent. on any amount he may deliver in three months from the pasBabe of this act; Provided that no enrollment since Feb. 1, 1-54, shall deprive the person enrolled from the benefit of this exemption.

In addition to the above, the Secretary of War is authorized to make such details as the public security requires.

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proper, with authority to form bands of partisan rangers, in companies, battalions or regiments, either as infantry or cavalry, to receive the same pay, rations, and quarters, and be subject to the same regulations as other soldiers. For any arms and munitions of war captured from the enemy by any body of partisan rangers, and delivered to any quartermaster at designated place, the rangers shall be paid their full value.*

The following resolution, in relation to parti-, san service, was adopted by the Virginia Legislature, May 17, 1862 :

Whereas, this General Assembly places a high estimate upon the value of the ranger or partisan service in prose cuting the present war to a successful issue, and regards it as perfectly legitimate; and it being understood that a intimated his purpose, if such service is not discontinued, Federal commander on the northern border of Virginia has to lay waste by fire the portion of our territory at present under his power.

Resolved by the General Assembly, That in its opinion, to be carried out energetically, both by the authorities of the policy of employing such rangers and partisans ought this State and of the Confederate States, without the slightest regard to such threats.

By another act, the President was authorized, in addition to the volunteer force authorized under existing laws, to accept the services of volunteers who may offer them, without regard

1864, February 15-Repealed the above act, but provided for continuing organizations of partisan rangers acting as regular cavalry and so to continue; and authorizing the Secretary of War to provide for uniting all bands of partisan rangers with other organizations and bringing them under the general discipline of the provisional army. The act authorizes the Secretary of War, in his discretion, to exempt from its operation such companies as are serving within the lines of the enemy.

In a late cavalry raid by Col. Lowell, towards Upperville, Va., Lieut. Henry E. Alvord, of the Second Massachusetts Cavalry, captured Major Moseby's private papers, and found his commission as major of guerrillas, which is as follows:

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, WAR DEPARTMENT, RICHMOND, March 26, 1863.-You are hereby informed that the President has conferred upon you the rank of Major of Partisan Rangers, under the act approved April 21, 1862, in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States, to date as such from the 26th of March, 1863. Immediately on receipt thereof please communicate to this Department, to the Adjutant and Inspector General, announcing your acceptance of said appointment. With your letter of acceptance to the Adjutant and Inspector General, you will fill up properly the enclosed oath, and subscribe and swear to it; at the same time state your age, residence, and when ap pointed, and the State in which you were born. Should you accept, report for duty to General R. E. Lee. JAMES A. SEDDON, Secretary of War. Major JOHN MOSEBY.

1

to the place of enlistment, to serve for and both instances. The conscript law is a legitimate exercise during the existing war.

1862, May 27-Maj. Gen. John B. Floyd was authorized by the Legislature of Virginia, to raise ten thousand men, not now in service or liable to draft, for twelve months.

1862, September 27 The President was authorized to call out and place in the military service for three years, all white men who are residents, between the ages of thirty-five and forty-five, at the time the call may be made, not legally exempt. And such authority shall exist in the President, during the present war, as to all persons who now are, or hereafter may become eighteen years of age, and all persons between eighteen and forty-five, once enrolled, shall serve their full time.

THE TWENTY-NEGRO EXEMPTION LAW.

1862, October 11-Exempted certain classes, described in the repealing law of the next session, as follows:

of the power of Congress to raise armies, which is distinct from and additional to the power to employ the militia of the country. The privilege of putting in substitutes, until recently allowed, was an act of grace and favor to the citi zen, and not a contract in any respect to which the Government was a party.

"Nor would the Government have had a right to make such contract as in this case is contended for. As an act of Even if Congress had had the power to make such contract, grace it was, of course, repealable at the will of Congress. and had exercised it, yet the conditions necessarily attaching would have rendered the contract repealable if, in the judgment of Congress, the exigencies of the country required it. Congress was the sole judge of a public neces sity of this nature, and the preamble to the law repealing substitutions recognized this.”

STATE RIGHTS AND PERSONAL LIBERTY.

The Macon (Georgia) Telegraph gives the points of the first legal decision made in the State of Georgia under the act of the Confederate Congress repealing the substitute law, and compelling those who had furnished substitutes to go into the army. It is the judgment of Judge Lochrane, of the Superior Court for Macon Circuit, and was delivered on the 11th of February, in the case of Dennis Daley and Philip Fitzgerald, and is interesting as showing what are held to be State-rights and personal liberty in the Confederate States. We quote:

The dissatisfaction of the people with an act passed by the Confederate Congress, at its last session, by which per-right flowing out of the operation of law which came in sons owning a certain number of slaves were exempted from the operation of the conscription law, has led the members at the present session to reconsider their work, and already one branch has passed a bill for the repeal of the obnoxious law. This bill provides as follows:

duty of a nation to protect itself, and that any contract or
"Judge Lochrane held it was not only the right, but the
conflict with the preservation of the State, was an uncon-
stitutional act-not obligatory on the law-making power,
and within the constitutional power of the Government to
repeal.
That the act allowing substitutes was to be regarded as
a contract discharging principals from being called into
the service. It was then a contract that the principal
should not fight in the defence of the country when it was
endangered, and such contract was unauthorized by every
principle of constitutional law. If our first Congress had
who paid into the treasury $500, such exemption could
agreed to exempt all men from taxation during the war
have been set aside by any subsequent legislature, when
the public safety and self-preservation of the Government

"The Congress of the Confederate States do enact, That so much of the act approved October 11, 1862, as exempts from miltary service one person, either as agent, owner, or overseer, on each plantation on which one white person is required to be kept by the laws or ordinances of any State, and on which there is no white male adult not liable to military service, and in States having no such law, one person, as agent, owner, or overseer on such plantation of twenty negroes, and on which there is no white male adult not liable to military service;' and also the following clause in said act, to wit: and furthermore, for additional police "He held that the interest of every citizen was the same of every twenty negroes, on two or more plantations, within five miles of each other, and each having less than twenty the military service rendered by the substitute was just as as that of the Government of which he formed a part, and negroes, and on which there is no white male adult not liable to military duty, one person, being the oldest of the much rendered to the principal as a citizen of the Govern ment itself-his life, his honor, his property, and his liberty owners or overseers on such plantations,' be and the same are hereby repealed; and the persons so hitherto exempted were defended by the act, and the consideration enured to by said clauses of said act are hereby made subject to mili-him as a member of the society which composed the Govtary duty in the same manner that they would be had said clauses never been embraced in said act."

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"1. The company selected must have been in service on the 16th of April, 1862.

"2. The company selected must be, at the time of volunteering, below the minimum number prescribed by regula tions."

JUDICIAL RULINGS UPON CONSCRIPTION.

The Richmond papers of March. 1864, mention the following decision in reference to the conscription act:

"In the case of J. R. F. Borroughs vs. T. G. Peyton, and L. P. Abrahams vs. the same, the Court of Appeals of Virginia on yesterday rendered a decision. These cases came before the court on habeas corpus, the plaintiffs praying to be discharged from the custody of the conscript officer, on the ground that they had furnished substitutes-the one under the State law of February, 1862, the other the Con

federate States law.

"The court unanimously rejected the petitions in both cases, and remanded the parties to the military officer. The opinion was delivered by Judge William J. Robertson, and is able and elaborate. It brought under review the constitutionality both of the conscript law and that repealing the exemptions of such conscripts as have furnished substitutes, and it fully sustained the action of Congress in

demand it.

ernment.

"Contracts and vested rights must all bend to the exigencies of the Government, of which the legislature was the judge, and any act of the Legislature contravening the public interest may be repealed when the safety of the people becomes the supreme law.

"The vested rights of fathers may be annulled over their minor children, to make them soldiers when the public interests demand it, and the law-making power has so declared.

"All rights, all property, all persons who are citizens of a Government, may be used by the Government in time of war, and it was the duty of courts to sustain the Government in the appropriation of the means exercised rightfully by the Legislature to protect the whole people from subjugation and ruin."

1864, March 22-The Supreme Court of Georgia are reported as having, to-day, unanimously affirmed the constitutionality of the

anti-substitute law.

IN NORTH CAROLINA.

[From Richmond Sentinel, March 8, 1864.] HABEAS CORPUS WRITS REFUSED.-The Raleigh Confederate states that Judge Battle has lately refused to issue writs of habeas corpus in a number of cases when applied for by persons who had placed substitutes in the army, on the ground that the writ was suspended in all such cases by the late act of Congress. It also learns that such is the opinion of Judge Manly. Judges Pearson, Battle, and Manly constitute the Supreme Court of North Carolina, and as two of the three judges sustain the Government in the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, the final decision of the matter against the substitute men is only a question of time. Judge Pearson is said to hold the contrary opinion.

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