in his employment persons in violation of the eighth section of the act should be cashiered. Military commanders convicted of failing to enforce this act were to be dismissed from the service. EXEMPTIONS FROM CONSCRIPTION. The tenth section repealed all former exemptions. The first clause exempted all persons unfit for military service under rules prescribed by the secretary of war. The second clause exempted the Vice-President of the Confederate States, the members and officers of Congress, and of the several State legislatures, and such other Confederate and State officers as the President or the governors of the respective States may certify to be necessary for the proper administration of the Confederate or State Governments, as the case may be, a The third clause exempted ministers of religion, editors of newspapers and their employees, the public printer and his employees, superintendents and physicians of asylums, physicians, apothecaries, presidents of colleges, and teachers of schools, the presidents and teachers to have been so engaged for the preceding two years. The fourth clause, looking to the support of the army, exempted one person as overseer on each plantation employing 15 able-bodied field. hands between the ages of 16 and 50, upon condition of giving his bond that within the twelve months next ensuing he would deliver at some railroad depot or other point designated by the secretary of war 100 pounds of bacon, or its equivalent in pork, and 100 pounds of net beef (delivered on the hoof) for each able-bodied slave on the plantation, whether employed in the field or house. The bacon and beef were to be paid for at prices fixed by the commissioners appointed under the impressment act. The party exempted was further required to bind himself during its continuance to sell all surplus provisions to the government or to the families of soldiers at prices fixed as above. The Secretary of War under the Confederate President was also authorized to 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 agriculture than in the military service: Provided, That such exemptions shall cease whenever the farmer, planter, or overseer shall fail diligently to employ, in good faith, his own skill, capital, and labor, exclusively, in the production of grain and provisions, to be sold to the Government and the families of soldiers at prices not exceeding those fixed at the time for like articles by the commissioners of the State under the impressment act.b The eleventh section authorized the Confederate President to grant details, under general rules and regulations to be issued by the War Department, either from persons between forty-five and fifty years of age, or from the Army in the field, in all cases when in his judgment justice, equity, and necessity require such details, and he may revoke such orders of details whenever he thinks proper.c The twelfth and last section, in order to insure impartiality, prescribed that no member of the boards of surgeons for the examination of persons liable to military service should be appointed from the a First Cong., C. S. A., Sess. IV, sec. 10, p. 213. country or enrolling district in which the board to which he belonged was required to make examinations. A fifteenth act, February 17, Chapter LXVI, related to taxation. Bankers were required to pay $500; auctioneers, $50 and 24 per cent on gross sales; wholesale liquor dealers, $200 and 5 per cent; merchants and grocers, $200 and 5 per cent; distillers, $200 and 20 per cent; brewers, $100 and 2 per cent. On incomes of $1,500 per annum a tax was levied of 1 per cent, and 2 per cent on all excess above $1,500. On all produce a tax in kind was levied amounting to 10 per cent. A sixteenth act, Chapter LXIX, February 17, gave courts martial power to summon civil witnesses in the State where the court was holding its sessions. In case the citizen witness refused to attend, the commander of the army was authorized to employ military force to arrest him and to keep him "in close confinement" until he should consent to testify. The eighteenth act, Chapter LXXI, gave to each soldier a ration of tobacco. A nineteenth act, Chapter LXXIV, authorized the Confederate President to discharge any officer of the regular or provisional army who had no command or could not be assigned to any appropriate duty, as also officers absent without leave or who were incompetent or inefficient." Officers discharged for absence or inefficiency were entitled for thirty days to demand a trial before an examining board. A twentieth act, Chapter LXXV, related to the organization of engineer troops as authorized by the act of March 20, 1863, one company of which could be selected from each division, or twelve regiments of infantry. After these companies were organized into regiments the field officers were to be appointed by selection. A twenty-first act, February 17, 1864, Chapter LXXVI, authorized the appointment of an ensign to each regiment of infantry with the rank and pay of first lieutenants, whose duty was to bear the colors of the regiment, without the right to command in the field. A twenty-second act, Chapter LXXIX, authorized the Secretary of War to employ free negroes and slaves to replace "able-bodied soldiers acting as teamsters and in various other capacities." Free negroes were to receive clothing, rations, and $11 per month. Compensation for the slaves, whose number was limited to 20,000, was paid to the owner at a rate established with the owner. In case of refusal to furnish slaves the secretary of war was authorized to impress them. February 3, the thanks of Congress were cordially given to the gallant soldiers of Tennessee, who have in advance of the legislation of Congress, and before their three years term of service has expired, voluntarily tendered their services to the country during the war. Similar resolutions of thanks were voted February 6 to the troops of North Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida; February 13, to Mississippi; February 15, to Virginia, Georgia, and South Carolina; February 16, to Texas. Some of these resolutions were addressed to the troops of the States, others to individual regiments and companies. THE FIRST SESSION OF THE SECOND CONFEDERATE CONGRESS. The first session of the Second Confederate Congress began at Richmond, May 2, 1864, and ended June 14, 1864. Continuing piecemeal legislation, the first military law of the Second Confederate Congress, May 23, 1864, Chapter V, authorized a commissary to each regiment of cavalry, with the same pay and allowances as the regimental quartermaster. May 31, an act, Class VIII, authorized the Confederate President, with the consent of the senate, to appoint temporary officers of the rank of Brigadier-General, Major-General, Lieutenant-General, or General from the Provisional Army and assign them to appropriate command. At the expiration of the temporary exigency the officers were to resume their previous permanent rank and command. A second act May 31, Chapter X, extended the appointment of ensign to each battalion of the Provisional Army. The next act the same day, Chapter XI, authorized chaplains for battalions and General Hospitals, the same as for regiments and posts. June 4, 1864,an act, Chapter XVII, authorized the appointment of five military storekeepers with the rank of captain, and five with the rank of first lieutenant of infantry. June 9, the pay of the enlisted men was increased $7 per month for one year, Chapter XXIX. The same day the Niter and Mining Bureau was made to consist of one colonel, two lieutenant-colonels, six majors, and twelve captains, Chapter XXX. June 10, fifty officers of artillery were authorized to be appointed in the Provisional Army for the performance of ordnance duty, Chapter XXXVIII. June 14, the Confederate President was authorized to grant authority for the organization of companies, battalions, or regiments, to be composed of supernumerary officers of the Provisional Army, Chapter LI. The second section authorized any supernumerary officer to join the above organization or any other company on tender of his resignation for that purpose, Chapter LI. By a second act June 14, Chapter LII, additional quartermasters and commissaries were authorized, with rank not to exceed one colonel for each military department or separate army, one lieutenant-colonel for each corps, and one major for each division. For the collection, control, and distribution of railroad and field transportation and Army supplies, as many more additional quartermasters and commissaries and purchasing agents were authorized to be appointed as the service, in the judgment of the Confederate President, might require. To collect the tax in kind, the fourth section authorized the appointment of one quartermaster, with the rank of major, for each State, and one assistant quartermaster, with the rank of captain, in each Congressional district. The last act of the first session of the Second Confederate Congress prescribed: That hereafter the General Staff of the Army shall constitute a corps, and staff officers shall no longer, except by assignment, be attached to any particular military organization, or be held to duty at any post. That promotions in said corps shall be by selection based upon capacity, merit, and services, and no one shall be appointed in said corps unless he has been two years at least in the military service during this war, or is over 45 years of age, or is unfit for military service in the field. SEC. 2. That the President is hereby authorized to assign all officers of the staff to such appropriate duties as he may think proper; except that he shall not assign them to commands in the line, unless in cases of emergency, and then only for a short time; and no officer shall be allowed to hold at the same time a commission or appointment in the staff and in the line. a The third section made the staff of a general commanding an army in the field to consist of one general officer, charged with the administration of the army; two assistant adjutants-general, colonels of cavalry; one chief quartermaster, colonel of cavalry; one chief of ordnance, colonel of cavalry; one chief commissary, colonel of cavalry; one medical director, colonel of cavalry; one aid-de-camp, colonel; one aid-de-camp, lieutenant-colonel of cavalry. The fourth section made the staff of a lieutenant-general commanding a corps, to consist of two assistant adjutants-general, colonels of cavalry; one chief quartermaster, lieutenant-colonel of cavalry; one chief commissary, lieutenant-colonel of cavalry; one chief of ordnance, lieutenant-colonel of cavalry; one medical director, lieutenant-colonel of cavalry; one aid-de-camp, lieutenant-colonel of cavalry; one aid-decamp, major of cavalry. By the fifth section the staff of a major-general commanding a division, consisted of two assistant adjutants-general, lieutenant-colonels of cavalry; one chief of ordnance, one chief quartermaster, one chief commissary, one surgeon, one aid-de-camp, all majors of cavalry; and one aid-de-camp, captain of cavalry. The sixth section made the staff of a brigadier-general commanding a brigade, to consist of two assistant adjutants-general, one assistant inspector-general, one surgeon, majors of cavalry; one ordnance officer, one aid-de-camp, captains of cavalry; and one aid-de-camp, first lieutenant of cavalry. The resolutions of the first session, Second Confederate Congress, passed between the 17th of May and the 14th of June, 1864, tendered thanks to various organizations for their patriotic conduct in reenlisting for the war. a First session, Second Congress, C. S., Chapter LVIII, p. 281. |