SIR: WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, Washington, D. C., October 5, 1863. The following instructions, received from the General-in-Chief, are furnished for your information and guidance, and are to be strictly observed: Drafted men and substitutes, disabled since entry into service, will, in future, be transferred to the Invalid Corps, and discharged in the same manner as other soldiers; but in cases where disability existed before entry into service, a Board of three officers (two line and one medical, to be convened by the Commanding Officer of the Regiment) will render, in addition to the usual medical certificates, (upon which the soldier will be discharged in the usual manner, with pay and allowances, except in cases of fraud,) a special report, with a full history of the case, giving the names of the Board of Enrolment, the State and District to which they belong, that proper steps may at once be taken to prevent recurrence of such cases. Men drafted and substitutes will not be discharged for disability existing before entry into service until they have been with the Regiment to which assigned at least one week. 1..All houses, tenements, lands, and plantations, except such as may be required for military purposes, which have been or may be deserted and abandoned by insurgents within the lines of the military occupation of the United States forces in States declared by Proclamation of the President to be in insurrection, will hereafter be under the supervision and control of the Supervising Special Agents of the Treasury Department. 2..All commanders of military departments, districts, and posts will, upon receipt of this Order, surrender and turn over to the proper Supervising Special Agent such houses, tenements, lands, and plantations, not required for nilitary uses, as may be in their possession or under their control; 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 obtain possession of such houses, tenements, lands, and plantations, and to maintain their authority over the same. BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAB: E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant General. GENERAL ORDERS, No. 339. WAR DEPARTMENT, I..A declaration of Exchanges having been announced by R. Ould, Esq.. Agent for Exchange, at Richmond, Virginia, dated September 12, 1863, it is hereby declared that all officers and men of the United States Army captured and paroled previous to the 1st of September, 1863, are duly exchanged. The officers and men herein declared exchanged will immediately be sent to join their respective regiments. BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR: E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant General. GENERAL ORDERS, WAR DEPARTMENT, No. 340. ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, The following is a Proclamation by the President, calling for three hundred thousand volunteers: BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. WHEREAS the term of service of a part of the volunteer forces of the United States will expire during the coming year; and whereas, in addition to the men raised by the present draft, it is deemed expedient to call out three hundred thousand volunteers to serve for three years or the war, not, however, exceeding three years: Now, therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, and of the Militia of the several States when called into actual service, do issue this my Proclamation, calling upon the Governors of the different States to raise and have enlisted into the United States service, for the various companies and regiments in the field from their respective States, their quotas of three hundred thousand men. I further proclaim that all volunteers thus called out and duly enlisted shall receive advance pay, premium, and bounty, as heretofore communicated to the Governors of States by the War Department, through the Provost Marshal General's Office, by special letter. I further proclaim that all volunteers received under this call, as well as all others not heretofore credited, shall be duly credited on and deducted from the quotas established for the next draft. I further proclaim that if any State shall fail to raise the quota assigned to it by the War Department under this call, then a draft for the deficiency in said quota shall be made on said State, or on the districts of said State, for their due proportion of said quota; and the said draft shall commence on the fifth day of January, 1864, And I further proclaim that nothing in this Proclamation shall interfere with existing orders, or those which may be issued, for the present draft in the States where it is now in progress or where it has not yet commenced. The quotas of the States and districts will be assigned by the War Department, through the Provost Marshal General's Office, due regard being had for the men heretofore furnished, whether by volunteering or drafting, and the recruiting will be conducted in accordance with such instructions as have been or may be issued by that Department. In issuing this Proclamation, I address myself not only to the Governors of the several States, but also to the good and loyal people thereof, invoking them to lend their willing, cheerful, and effective aid to the measures thus adopted, with a view to reinforce our victorious armies now in the field, and bring our needful military operations to a prosperous end, thus closing forever the fountains of sedition and civil war. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington this seventeenth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty[L. S.] three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth. The one hundred dollars bounty due at expiration of enlistment will be paid by Paymasters to Veteran Volunteers re-enlisting, upon the usual discharge papers from their first enlistment. BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR: The Provost Marshal General having been authorized, September 5, 1863, to organize the companies of the Invalid Corps into Regiments, the limitation in paragraph 5, of General Orders No. 173, under which no officer of the Corps can receive a commission higher than the grade of Major, is removed. The grades of Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel are authorized from September 5, 1863. BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR: The employment of women nurses in the U. S. General Hospitals will in future be strictly governed by the following rules: 1. Persons approved by Miss Dix, or her authorized agents, will receive from her, or them, " certificates of approval," which must be countersigned by Medical Directors upon their assignment to duty as nurses within their Departments. 2. Assignments of "women nurses to daty in General Hospitals will only be made upon application by the Surgeons in charge, through Medical Directors, to Miss Dix or her agents, for the number they require, not exceeding one to every thirty beds. 3. No females, except Hospital Matrons, will be employed in General hospitals, or, after December 31, 1863, borne upon the Muster and Pay Rolls, without such certificate of approval and regular assignment, unless specially appointed by the Surgeon General. 4. Women nurses, while on duty in General Hospitals, are under the exclusive control of the senior medical officer, who will direct their several duties, and may be discharged by him when considered supernumerary, or for incompetency, insubordination, or violation of his orders. Such discharge, with the reasons therefor being indorsed upon the certificate, will be sent to Miss Dix. BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR: E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant General. |