interests may require; and all sales of such property shall be at auction to the highest bidder, and the proceeds thereof shall be paid into the treasury of the United States.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the treas ury may require the special agents appointed under this act to give a bond with such securities and in such amount as he shall deem necessary, and to require the increase of said amounts, and the strenghening of said security, as circumstances may demand; and he shall also cause a book or books of account to be kept, showing from whom such property was received, the cost of transportation, and proceeds of the sale thereof. And any person claiming to have been the owner of any such abandoned or captured property may, at any time within two years after the suppression of the rebellion, prefer his claim to the proceeds thereof in the Court of Claims; and on proof to the satisfaction of said court of his ownership of said property, of his right to the proceeds thereof, and that he has never given any aid or comfort to the present rebellion, to receive the residue of such proceeds, after the deduction of any purchase money which may have been paid, together with the expense of transportation and sale of said property, and any other lawful expenses attending the disposition thereof.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That all property coming into any of the United States not declared in insurrection as aforesaid, from within any of the States declared in insurrection, through or by any other person than any agent duly appointed under the provisions of this act, or under a lawful clearance by the proper officer of the Treasury Department, shall be confiscated to the use of the government of the United States. And the proceedings for the condemnation and sale of any such property shall be instituted and conducted under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, in the mode prescribed by the eighty-ninth and ninetieth sections of the act of March second, seventeen hundred and ninety-nine, entitled "An act to reg. ulate the collection of duties on imports and tonnage.' And any agent or agents, person or persons, by or through whom such property shall come within the lines of the United States unlawfully, as aforesaid, shall be judged guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, or imprisonment for any time not exceeding one year, or both, at the discretion of the court. And the fines, penalties, and forfeitures accruing under this act may be mitigated or remitted in the mode prescribed by the act of March three, seventeen hundred and ninetyseven, or in such manner, in special cases, as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the fifth section of the "Act to further provide for the collection of the revenue upon the northern, northeastern, and northwestern frontier, and for other purposes, approved July fourteen, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, shall be so construed as to allow the temporary officers which had been or may be appointed at ports which have been or may be opened or established in States declared to be in insurrection by the proclamation of the

President on the first of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, the same compensation which by law is allowed to permanent officers of the same position, or the ordinary compensation of special agents, as the Secretary of the Treasury may determine.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of every officer or private of the regular or volunteer forces of the United States, or any officer, sailor, or marine in the naval service of the United States upon the inland waters of the United States, who may take or receive any such abandoned property, or cotton, sugar, rice, or tobacco, from persons in such insurrectionary districts, or have it under his control, to turn the same over to an agent appointed as aforesaid, who shall give a receipt therefor; and in case he shall refuse or neglect so to do, he shall be tried by a court-martial and shall be dismissed from the service, or, if an officer, reduced to the ranks, or suffer such other punishment as said court shall order, with the approval of the President of the United States.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That none of the provisions of this act shall apply to any lawful maritime prize by the naval forces of the United States.

Approved March 12, 1863.

ORDER

OF THE

SECRETARY OF WAR.

General Orders No. 88.]

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, March 31, 1863.

For the purpose of more effectually preventing all commercial intercourse with insurrectionary States, except such as shall be authorized in pursuance of law, and of securing consistent, uniform, and efficient action in conducting such intercourse as shall be so authorized, and for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of an act of Congress entitled "An act to provide for the collection of abandoned property and for the prevention of frauds in insurrectionary States," approved March 12, 1863, it is hereby ordered

I.

That no officer of the army of the United States, nor other person connected therewith, shall authorize or have any interest in the transportation of any goods, wares, or merchandise (except supplies belonging to or contracted for by the United States, designed for the military or naval forces thereof, and moving under military or naval orders, and except, also, sutlers' supplies and other things necessary for the use and comfort of the troops of the United States, and moving under permits of the authorized officers of the Treasury Department) into any State declared by the President to be in insurrection; nor authorize nor have any interest in the purchase or sale therein of any goods or chattels wares or merchandise, cotton, tobacco, or other product of the soil thereof; nor the transportation of the same, except as aforesaid, therefrom or therein; nor shall any such officer or person authorize, prohibit, or in any manner interfere with any such purchase or sale or transportation, which shall be conducted under the regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury, unless under some imperative military necessity, in the place or section where the same shall be conducted, or unless requested by an agent or some other authorized officer of the Treasury Department, in which case all commanders of military departments, districts, and posts, will render such aid in carrying out the provisions of the said act, and in enforcing due observance of the said regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury, as can be given without manifest injury to the public service.

II.

It is further ordered that every officer or private, or person employed in or with the regular or volunteer forces of the United States, who may receive or have under his control any property which shall have been abandoned by the owner or owners, or captured in any district declared to be in insurrection against the United States, including all property seized under military orders, excepting only such as shall be required for military use of the United States forces, shall promptly turn over all such property to the agent appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury to receive the same, who shall give duplicate receipts therefor.

And every such officer or private, or person employed in or with the regular or volunteer forces of the United States, shall also promptly turn over to such agent, in like manner, all receipts, bills of lading, and other papers, documents, and vouchers showing title to such property, or the right to the possession, control, or direction thereof; and he shall make such order, indorsement, or writing as he has power to make, to enable such agent to take possession of such property or the proceeds thereof. Arms, munitions of war, forage, horses, mules, wagons, beef cattle, and supplies which are necessary in military operations, shall be turned over to the proper officers of the ordnance, or of the quartermaster, or of the commissary departments, respectively, for the use of the army. All other property abandoned or captured or seized, as aforesaid, shall be delivered to the agent appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury.

The officer receiving or turning over such property shall give the usual and necessary invoices, receipts, or vouchers therefor, and shall make regular returns thereof, as prescribed by the army regulations. The receipts of the agents of the Treasury Department shall be vouchers for all property delivered to them, and whenever called upon by the agent of the Treasury Department authorized to receive such abandoned or captured or seized property, as aforesaid, or the proceeds thereof, all persons employed in the military service will give him full information in regard thereto; and if requested by him so to do, they shall give him duplicates or copies of the reports and returns thereof, and of the receipts, invoices, and vouchers therefor. And every officer of the army of the United States, hereafter receiving abandoned or captured or seized property, or the proceeds thereof, or under whose order it may be applied to the use of the military forces, as aforesaid, shall, upon request of a duly authorized agent of the Treasury Department, render a written report, with invoices thereof, to said agent, in which he will specify the arms, supplies, or other munitions of war, retained for the use of the military forces, as aforesaid, and also, separately, the property turned over to said agent, or which may have been sold or otherwise disposed of. And in case a sale of any such propery shall be made under his authority, or under the authority of any one subject to his order, he will so state, and will describe the property so sold, and will state

when and where and by and to whom sold, and the amount received therefor, and what disposition was made of the proceeds.

And all officers of the army of the United States will at all times render to the agents appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury all such aid as may be necessary to enable them to take possession of and transport all such property, so far as can be done without manifest injury to the public service.

III.

All commanders of military departments, districts, and posts, will, upon receipt of this order, revoke all existing orders within their respective commands conflicting or inconsistent herewith, or which permit or prohibit or in any manner interfere with any trade or transportation conducted under the regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury; andtheir attention is particularly directed to said regulations, prescribed March 31, 1863, and they will respectively make such orders as will insure strict observance of this order throughout their respective commands.

All expenses of transporting property herein referred to will be reported by the officers of the quartermaster's department, who furnish such transportation, to the agents of the Treasury Department, and also, through the ordinary channels, to the quartermaster general at Washington, in order that the said expenses may be reimbursed from the proceeds of sales of such transported property.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

WAR DEPARTMENT,
September 11, 1863.

The attention of all officers and soldiers of the Army of the United States, whether volunteer or regular, is specially directed to the Revised Regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury, approved by the President, dated September 11, 1863, and superseding the Regulations of March 31, 1863; and they will in all respects observe General Order of this Department, numbered eighty-eight, and dated March 31, 1863, in regard to said Revised Regulations, as if the same had been originally framed and promulgated with reference to them. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.