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 Duke University Libraries 
 
 An act to organ 
 Conf Pam 12mo #948 
 
A^ a.ct 
 
 10 ORGANIZE FORCES TO SEi>'\ \i:. 
 
 '//,r Congress of the Confederal Sat ■ Jmcrtfui d Thai 
 
 from and after the passage ofthis act, all whit* men, residents of the 
 Confederate States, between the ageso md fifty, 
 
 lie in tlio military service of the Gonfi • for the war. 
 
 Sec. ..'. That .ill Up' persons aforesaid, between the 
 eighteen ami forty-five, now in sen ice, shall be retained, daring 
 the present war with the United States, in tho same regiments, 
 battalions and companies to which they belong al the passage of 
 this act. witli the same organization and officers unless regularly 
 transfer it'd or discharged, in accordance with the laws and regu- 
 lations for the government of the army: Provided, That compa- 
 nies from one State, organized against their consent, ex] 
 the time, with regiments or battalions from another State, shall 
 have the privilege of being transferred to organizations of troops 
 in the same arm of tho service from the State in which said com- 
 panies were raised and the soldiers from one State in companic- 
 from another State shall be allowed, if they desire it, a transfer 
 to organizations from their own Slate in the .une arm of the 
 
 service. 
 
 Sec. •!. Thai, at the expiration of six months from the first 
 da}' of April next, a bounty of one hundred dollars, in a six per 
 cent. Government bond, which the Secretary of the Treasury ie 
 hercb}' authorized to issue, shall be paid to every uori-commis- 
 sioned officer, musician and private who shall then bo in tie 
 vice, or, in the event of his death previous to the period of such 
 payment, then to the person or persons who would be entitled by 
 law to receive the arrearage- of his pay, but no one shall be enti- 
 tled to the bounty herein provided who shall, at any time during 
 I ho period of six months next after the said firsl day of April, be 
 absent from bis command without leave. 
 
 SlC. I. That no person shall lie relieved from the operation of 
 (his act by reason of having been heretofore discharged from the 
 army where no disability now exists, nor shall thpse who have fur- 
 nished substitutes l<e any longer exempted by reason thereof: 
 Provided, That no person heretofore exempted on account of reli- 
 gious opinions, and who has paid the tax levied to relieve him 
 from service, shall be required to render military service under 
 this act. 
 
 Sr,< . 5. That all white male residents of the Confederate Sti 
 between the ages of seventeen and eighteen and forty-live and 
 fifty years shall enroll themselves, at auch times and places, aud 
 under such regulations as the President may prescribe, the time 
 allowed not being less than thirty days for those east, and sixty 
 days for those west of tho Mississippi river; and any person who 
 shall fail so to enroll himself, without a reasonable excuse there- 
 top, to be judged of by tho Presideut, shall be placed in servico in 
 
the field lor the war, in the same manner :is though he were be- 
 tween the ages of eighteen and forty-five: Provided, That the 
 persons mentioned in this section shall constitute a reserve for 
 State defence and detail duty, and shall not be required to per- 
 form service out of the State in which they reside. 
 
 Sir. c. That all persona required by tin- tilth section of this act 
 to enroll themselves may, within thirty days after the passage 
 
 hereof, east of the Mississippi river and within sixty days if west, 
 of said river, form themselves into voluntary organizations oi 
 companies, battalions or regiments, and elect 1 heir own officers — 
 
 said organizations to conform to the existing law ; and having so 
 organized, to tender their services as volunteers during the war 
 
 to the President; and if such organization shall furnish proper 
 muster rolls, as now required, and deposit a copy thereof with 
 the enrolling officer of their district (which shall be equivalent to 
 enrollment,) they may be accepted as minute men for service in 
 such Si ale : but in no event to be taken out of it. Those who do 
 not so volunteer and organize shall enroll themselves as before pro- 
 vided, and may, by the President, be required to assemble at places 
 of rendezvous, and be formed into companies, battalions and regi- 
 ments, under regulations to be prescribed by him, and shall have 
 the right to elect their company and regimental officers, and all 
 troops organized under this act for State defence shall be entitled, 
 while in actual service, to the same pay and allowances as troops 
 now in the field. 
 
 Sec. 7. That any person who shall fail to attend at the place of 
 rendezvous, as required by the authority of the President, without 
 asullieient .excuse, to be judged of by him, shall be liable to be 
 placed in service in the field for the war as if he were between 
 the ages of eighteen and forty-live years. 
 
 Sec. 8. That hereafter the duties of provost and hospital guards 
 and clerks, of clerks, guards, agents, employees, or laborers in 
 the Commissary's and Quartermaster's Departments, in the Ord- 
 nance Department, and clerks and employees of navy agents, as 
 also in the execution of the enrollment acts, and all similar duties, 
 shall he performed by persons who are within the ages of eighteen 
 and forty-five years, and who, by the report of a board of army 
 surgeons, shall be reported as unable to perform active service in 
 the field, but capable of performing some of the above-named 
 duties, specifying which; and when those persons shall have been 
 assigned to those duties as far as practicable, the President, shall 
 detail or assign to their performance such bodies of troeps or indi- 
 viduals, required to be enrolled under the fifth section of this act 
 as may be needed for the discharge of such duties: Provided, 
 That persons between the ages of seventeen and eighteen shall 
 not be assigned to these duties : Provided, further, That nothing 
 contained in this act shall be so construed as to prevent the Presi- 
 dent from detailing artisans, mechanics, or persons of scientific 
 skill to perform indispensable duties in the departments or 
 bureaus herein mentioned. 
 
 Sao. 9. That any quartermaster or assistant quartermaster, com- 
 nussary or assistant commissary, (other than those serving with 
 
regiments and brigades in the field,) or oilicer in the ordnance 
 bureau, or navy agent, or provost marshal, or officer in tho con- 
 script service, who shall hereafter employ or retain in his employ- 
 ment any person in any of their said departments or bureaus, or 
 in any of the duties mentioned in the eighth section of this act, 
 in violation of the provisions hereof, shall, on conviction thereof, 
 by a court martial or military court, he cashiered; and it shall be 
 the duty of an}* department or district commander, upon proof 
 by the oath of any credible person, that any such officer has 
 violated this provision, immediately to relieve such oilicer from 
 duty; and said commander shall take prompt measures to have 
 him tried for such offence, and any commander as aforesaid 
 jailing to perform the duties enjoined by this section, shall, upon 
 being did}' convicted thereof, be dismissed from the service. 
 
 Si.r. 10. That all laws granting exemptions from military ser- 
 vice be, and the same are hereby repealed, and hereafter none 
 shall be exempted except the following i 
 
 I. All who shall be held unfit for military service, under rulea 
 to be prescribed by the .Secretary of War. 
 
 II. The Vice-President of the Confederate States; the mem- 
 bers and officers of Congress and of the several Slate Legisla- 
 tures, and such other Confederate and Slate officers as the Presi- 
 dent or the Governors of the respective States may certify to be 
 necessary for the proper administration of the Confederate Ol 
 Slate Governments, as the case may be. 
 
 III. Every minister of religion authorized to preach according 
 10 the rules of his church, and who, at the passage of this ad. 
 shall be regularly employed in the discharge of his ministerial 
 duties; superintendents and physicians of asylums ol' the deal, 
 dumb and blind and of the insane; one editor for each newspaper 
 being published at the time of the passage of this act, and such 
 employees as said editor may certify on oath to be indispensable 
 to the publication of such newspaper; the public printer of the 
 Confederate and State Governments, and such journeymen print- 
 ers as the said public printer shall certify on oath to be indispen- 
 sable to perform the public printing; one skilled apothecary in 
 each apothecary store, who was doing business as such apothe- 
 cary on the tenth day of October, eighteen hundred and sixty- 
 two, and has continued said business, without intermission, since 
 that period ; all physicians over the age of thirty years who now 
 are, and for the last seven years have beon, in the actual and 
 regular practice of their profession, but the term physician shall 
 not include dentists; all presidents and teachers oi' colleges, the- 
 ological seminaries, academies, and schools, who have beon regu- 
 larly engaged as such for two years next before the pass- 
 age of this act : Provided, That the benefit of this exemption 
 shall extend to those teachers only whose schools are composed 
 of twenty students or more; all superintendents of public hos- 
 pitals established by law before the passage of this act, and such 
 physicians and nurses therein as such superintendent shall certify 
 on oath to be indispensable to the proper and efficient manage- 
 ment thereof 
 
I V. There shall be exempt One person as ovorseer or agricul- 
 turalist on each form or plantation u] »on which there are now, 
 and were, upon the first daj of January last, fifteen able-bodied 
 field hands, between the ages of sixteen and, fifty, upon the fol- 
 lowing conditions; i. Thia exemption shall only bo granted 
 in cases in which there is no white male adult on the farm or 
 plantation not liable Lo military service, nor unless the person 
 claiming the exemption was, on the firsl da}' of January, eighteen 
 hundred and sixty-four, oil her I be ovi ner and manager, or overseer 
 of said plantation ; but in no case shall more than one person be 
 exempted for one farm or plantation. _. Such person shall first 
 exocute ;i bond, payable to the Confederate States of America, in 
 such form, and with such security, and in such penalty, as the 
 Secretary of War may prescribe, conditioned that ho will deliver 
 to the Government, at Borne railroad depot, or such other place or 
 places as may l)e designated by the Secretary of War, within 
 twelve months then next ensuing, one hundred pounds of bacon, 
 or, at the election of the Government, its equivalent in pork, and 
 one hundred pounds ol nor beef, (said beef to be delivered on fool,) 
 for each able-bodied slave on the farm or plantation within the 
 ::h..\v Raid ages, whether said slaves bo worked in the field or 
 not, which said bacon or pork and beef shall be paid for by the 
 Government :it the prices fixed by the commissioners of the 
 State under the impressment act : Provided, That when the per- 
 son thus exempted shall produce satisfactory evidence that it has 
 been impossible for him, by the exercise of proper diligence, to 
 furnish the amount, of meat thus contracted for, and leave an ad- 
 equate supply for the subsistence of those living on said farm or 
 plantation, the Secretary of War shall direct a commutation of 
 the sann: to the extent of two-thirds thereof in grain or other 
 provisions, to be delivered hy such person as aforesaid at equiva- 
 lent rates. S. Such person shall further bind himself to sell the 
 marketable surplus of provisions and grain now on hand, and 
 which he may raise from year to year, while his exemption con- 
 tinues, to the Government or to the families of soldiers, at prices 
 fixed by the commissioners oi the State^under the impressment 
 act: Provided, That any person, exempted as aforesaid, shall be 
 entitled to a credit pf twenty-live per cent, on any amount of 
 meat which be may deliver within three months from (he passage 
 of this act: Provided , further, Thai persons coming within the 
 provisions of this exemption shall not be deprived thereof by 
 reason oi having been enrolled since the first daj of February, 
 eighteen hundred and sixty-four. 
 
 in addition to the foregoing exemptions, the Secretary of War. 
 under the direction pf the President, may exempt or detail such 
 other person as ho may bo satisfied ought to be exempted on ac- 
 count of public necessity, and to insure the production of grain 
 and provisions for the army and the families of soldiers, lie 
 may, also, grant exemptions or details, on such terms as he may 
 prescribe, to such overseers, farmers or planters, as he may be 
 satisfied will be more useful to the country in the pursuits of ag- 
 riculture than in the military service : Provided, That such ex- 
 
eruptions shall cease whenever tho farmer, planter or overseer, 
 shall fail diligently to employ, in gpod faith, his own skill, capital 
 and labor, exclusively in the production of grain and provisions, 
 to he sold to the Government and the families of soldiers at 
 juices not exceeding those fixed at the time for like articles l\ 
 the commissioners of the Stale under the impressment act. 
 
 V. The president, treasurer, auditor and superintendent, of any 
 railroad company engaged in transportation for the Government, 
 and such officers and employees thereol us the president or super- 
 intendent shall certify, oh oath, to he indispensable to the efficient 
 operation of such railroad : Provided, That the number of poraons 
 exempted by this act on any railroad shall not exceed one for each 
 mile of such road in actual use for military transportation, and 
 said exempts shall be reported by name and description, with the 
 namosof any whomay have left the employment of said company, 
 or who may cease to be indispensable to the efficient operation 
 of its road, at least one.' a month, to the Secretary of War, or 
 such officer as he may designate for that purpose: And provided 
 further, That such president or superintendent shall, in each such 
 monthly report, certify on oath, that no person liable to military 
 service has been employed l>y his company since the passage of 
 this act, in any position in which it was practicable to employ 
 one not liable to military service, and capable of performing effi- 
 ciently the duties of such position. And in eases where railroads 
 have fallen into the hands of tho enemy, and a portion of the 
 rolling stock <>i sueh roads is being used on other roads not in tho 
 enemy's hands, the president and superintendent of said firsl- 
 named roads shall he exempt. 
 
 VI. That nothing herein contained shall he construed as re- 
 pealing the act approved April fourteenth, eighteen hundred and 
 sixty-three, entitled " An act to exempt contractors for carrying 
 the mails of the Confederate States, and the drivers of post- 
 coaches and hacks, from military service :" Provided, That 
 the exemptions granted under this act shall only continue whilst 
 the persons exempted are actually engaged in their respective 
 pursuits or occupations. 
 
 Sec. II. That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to 
 grant details, under general rules and regulations to he issued by 
 i he War Department, cither from persons between forty-five and 
 fifty years of age, or from the army in the held, in all cases when, in 
 his judgment, justice, equity and necessity, require such details. 
 and he may revoke sueh orders of details whenever he thinks 
 proper: Provided, That the power herein granted to the Presi- 
 dent to make details and exemptions shall not he construed to au- 
 thorize the exemption or detail of any contractor for furnishing 
 supplies of any kind to the Government, !>y reason of said con- 
 tract, unless the head or Secretary of the department making such 
 contract shall certify that the personal services of said contractor 
 are indispensable to the execution of the contract: Provided 
 further, That when any such contractor shall fail diligently and 
 faithfully to proceed with the execution of such contract, his ex- 
 emption or detail shall cease. 
 
Sec. I'-. That in appointing local boards of Burgeons for the 
 
 examination of persons liable to military service, no member com 
 posing t lie same shall be appointed from the county or enrolling 
 
 district in which they are required to make such examination. 
 
 Approved, February 17, 1864, 
 
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