tdnv 
 
 ISCHIUM I 
 
 Conf Pam #415 
 
MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 Richmond, Va., Dec. 17, 1863. 
 To the. House of Representatives : 
 
 Jn partial response to your resolution of the 1 Ith instant, I here- 
 with transmit a communication from the Secretary of War covering 
 a list of exempts in the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South 
 Carolina, and Georgia. 
 
 Further information on this sul ject will be communicated when 
 received. 
 
 JEFFERSON DAVIS. 
 
 COMMUNICATION FROM SECRETARY OF WAR. 
 
 Confederate States of America, } 
 
 War Department, \ 
 
 Richmond, Va., Dec. 17, 1863. ) 
 
 His Excellency The President : 
 
 Sir : In response to a resolution of the House of Represen- 
 tatives, adopted on the 11th instant, I have the honor to trans- 
 mit a report from Colonel J. S. Preston, Chief of the Conscript 
 Bureau, of "the number of exempts in the Confederate States, the 
 States in which they reside, and the reasons for the exemption from 
 military service." 
 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 JAMES A. SEDDON, 
 
 Secretary of War. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/communicationfro29conf 
 
C. S. A., War Department, } 
 
 Bureau of Conscription, \ 
 
 Richmond, Va., Dec. 16, 1863. ) 
 
 Hon. James A. Seddon, Secretary of War : 
 
 Sir: The following resolution of the House of Representatives has 
 been referred to this bureau : 
 
 " Resolved, That the President be respectfully requested to commu- 
 nicate to this House the number of exempts in the Confederate States, 
 the States in which they reside, and the reason for exemption from 
 military service." 
 
 In reply, I have the honor to submit that the number of exempts, 
 
 by operation of law and other reasons, in the States of Virginia, North 
 
 Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, the four States under charge 
 
 of this bureau is sixty-four thousand eight hundred and thirty, viz. : 
 
 Virginia, 20,372 
 
 North Carolina, 22,807 
 
 South Carolina. 5,814 
 
 Georgia, 15,837 
 
 Total, 64,830 
 
 The specific causes are set forth in the paper herewith transmitted, 
 marked "exemptions." 
 
 This statement will be found in the report I had the honor to sub- 
 mit to you on the 6th instant. 
 
 The number of substitutes is partly conjectural. The actual num- 
 ber may be furnished from the Adjutant and inspector General's 
 Department. 
 
 I may repeat my conviction that 20,000 or 25,000 substitutes have 
 been put in the army, and that there are, perhaps, over ten thousand 
 fraudulent substitute papers held by parties not in the service. 
 Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 
 
 J. S. PRESTON, 
 Colonel and Superintendent, 
 
ftf Virginia, 
 ' i iria. 
 
 
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