CONFEDERATE STATES. 



243 



and seaboard have produced results that might have 

 been expected. They have animated the people with a 

 spirit of resistance so general, so resolute, and so self- 

 sacriticing, that it requires rather to be regulated than 

 to be stimulated. The right of the State to demand, 

 and the duty of each citizen to render military service, 

 need only to be stated to be admitted. It is not, how- 

 ever, a wise or judicious policy to place in active ser- 

 vice that portion of the force of a people which exper- 

 ience has shown to be necessary as a reserve. Youths 

 under the age of eighteen years require further in- 

 struction ; men of matured experience are needed for 

 maintaining order and good government at home, and 

 in supervising preparations for rendering efficient the 

 armies in the field. These two classes constitute the 

 proper reserve for home defence, ready to be called out 

 in case of any emergency, and to be" kept in the field 

 only while the emergency exists. 



Bat, in order to maintain this reserve intact, it is 

 necessary that in a great war like that in which we are 

 now engaged all persons of intermediate ages not le- 

 gally exempt for good cause, should pay their debt of 

 military service to the count ry, that the burdens should 

 not fall exclusively on the mo'st ardent and patriotic. I 

 therefore recommend the passage of a law declaring 

 that all persons residing within the Confederate States 

 between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five years, and 

 rightfully subject to military duty, shall be "held to be 

 in the military service of the Confederate States, and 

 that some plain and simple method be adopted for 

 their prompt enrollment and' organization, repealing 

 all of the legislation heretofore enacted which would 

 conflict with the system proposed. 



JEFFERSOX DAVIS. 



The 1st of April found not only the new- 

 levies and reenlisted men in the ranks, but the 

 Confederate Congress, in compliance with the 

 above Message-, was about to pass a conscript 

 law to bring all men between the ages of eigh- 

 teen and thirty- five into the field. All furloughs 

 were revoked by the following order from the 

 "War Department : 



ADJUTANT AXD INSPECTOR CENTRAL'S OFFICE. 



RICHMOND, March 24, 1S<32. 

 General Order, No. 16. 



All leaves of absence and furloughs, from whatever 

 source obtained, are revoked; and officers and men 

 absent from duty, except oa surgeon's certificate of dis- 

 ability, will return at once to their respective com- 

 mands. It is with extreme reluctance that the De- 

 partment adopts a measure which deprives our patri- 

 otic soldiers of the relaxation they have so well earned; 

 but the enemy presses on every side, and the neces- 

 sities of the service demand new illustrations of that 

 noble self-denial which has been so many times evinced 

 since the commencement of our struggle for indepen- 

 dence. The furloughs of all who have engaged for the 

 war, which are thus curtailed, will be extended here- 

 after, when circumstances will permit. But judging 

 from the past, no fears are entertained of an onvrUung 

 response to the call. Those who have so many times 

 prored their devotion to their country, cannot be diffi- 

 dent or backward in the hour of Her greatest need 

 By order of the President. S. COOPER, 



Adjutant and Inspector-General. 



Thus, although the Confederate losses were 

 severe at first, they were soon prepared to meet 

 the enemy. The danger which they escaped 

 was thus stated at Richmond: " The disasters 

 we have suffered are mortifying to us, and ex- 

 hilarate our enemies ; but they have startled 

 without crippling the Confederacy. Had it 

 lain still two months more, with" the army 

 dwindling daily under the furlough system, 

 disgusted with the inaction of stationary 



I 



camps, while the Government was quarrelling 

 with the generals, and the people sinking un- 

 der indifference, we would have been overrun 

 between the 15th of April and the 1st of May/' 

 On the 16th of April the conscript act, hav- 

 ing passed both Houses of Congress, was ap- 

 proved by the President. This act annulled all 

 previous contracts made by volunteers, and by 

 explicit terms made all men under the age of 

 thirty-five years and over eighteen years, sol- 

 diers for the war, or until they attained the 

 age of thirty-five years. It drew every male 

 citizen within the prescribed ages immediately 

 and entirely from the control of State action, 

 and placed them at the disposal of the Presi- 

 dent during the war. It also provided, ' That 

 all persons under the age of 18 years, or over 

 the age of 35 years, who are now enrolled in 

 the military service of the Confederate States, 

 in the regiments, squadrons, battalions, and 

 companies hereafter to be organized, shall be 

 required to remain in their respective com- 

 panies, squadrons, battalions, and regiments 

 for ninety days, unless their places shall be 

 sooner supplied by other recruits, not now in 

 the service, who are between the ages of 18 

 and 35 years, and all laws and part of laws 

 provided for the reorganization of volunteers, 

 and the organization thereof into companies, 

 squadrons, battalions, and regiments, shall be, 

 and the same are hereby repealed." 



The existing organization of companies, regi- 

 ments, &c., was preserved, but the companies 

 were required to be filled up to the number of 

 135 men. "When thus filled up, the privates 

 had the privilege of electing their officers in 

 the same manner as under former laws, but the 

 commissions were issued by the President. The 

 provision of the law annulling the contract 

 with volunteers and requiring those under 18 

 years or over 35 to continue in service 90 days 

 after its passage, without regard to their term 

 of enlistment, was construed by these volun- 

 teers as entitling them to a discharge on the 

 16th of July. Previous to that date, however, 

 an order was issued by the "War Department 

 placing them on the same footing as conscripts, 

 and requiring them to continue in the service. 

 So extreme was this order thaj it retained in 

 service all enlisted men without regard to the 

 tune of their enlistment or their ages. Thus 

 youths of 17 and men of 50 were not allowed 

 to withdraw, nor any who were in the army at 

 the tune of the passage of the law. In a word, 

 the law set aside all contracts, and the Govern- 

 ment retained all the soldiers in the field and 

 sought to add to them every man between the 

 required apes. Xnt even physicians were ex- 

 empted. President Davis, in a letter to the 

 governor of Georgia, thus states the reason for 

 this injustice to the volunteers : 



I would have very little difficulty in establishing 

 to your entire satisfaction that the passage of the law 

 was not only necessary, but that it was absolutely in- 

 dispensable : that numerous regiments of 12 months' 

 men were on the eve of being disbanded, whose places 

 would not be supplied by new levies in the face of su- 



