AEMY, CONFEDEKATE. 



17 



men residents of said States, between the ages of eigh- 

 teen and forty-five years, not legally exempted from 

 military service ; and I do hereby order and direct 

 that all persons subject to this call and not now in the 

 military service, do, upon being enrolled, forthwith re- 

 pair to the conscript camps established in the respec- 

 tive States of which they may be residents, under 

 pain of being held and punished as deserters, in the 

 event of their failure to obey this call, as provided in 

 said laws. 



And I do further order and direct that the enrolling 

 officers of the several States proceed at once to enrol 

 all persons embraced within the terms of this procla- 

 mation, and not heretofore enrolled. 



And I do further order that it shall be lawful for any 

 person embraced within this call to volunteer for ser- 

 vice before enrolment, and that persons so volunteer- 

 ing be allowed to select the arm of service and the 

 company which they desire to -join, provided such 

 company be deficient in the full number of men al- 

 lowed by law, or its organization. 



Given under my hand and the seal of the Confeder- 

 ate States of America, at the city of Richmond, this 

 fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord one 

 thousand eight hundred and sixty-three. 



JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



By the President : 

 J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State. 



It was estimated that the number which this 

 conscription would bring out would be as fol- 

 lows : 



27,000 



The total estimate was 104,323. That por- 

 tion to be contributed by the States partly in 

 possession of the Federal forces cannot be 

 considered otherwise than as over-estimated. 

 Some of the number liable had also gone volun- 

 tarily to the field, which would make the es- 

 timate about 75,000 men. 



A most important decision was given by the 

 Supreme Court at Richmond relative to per- 

 sons liable to conscription. - It decided that the 

 act contemplated the conscription of all " resi- 

 dents" in the Confederate States between the 

 prescribed ages, whether they were " resi- 

 dents" in pursuit of pleasure, money, business, 

 or any other object. There were, at the time, 

 many thousands of young, able-bodied men, 

 from Maryland and Kentucky residing in va- 

 rious parts of the Confederacy. 



A report of the Conscript Bureau presented to 

 Congress estimated the number of exempts in 

 the four States under its charge as follows : Vir- 

 ginia, 20,370; North Carolina, 22,807; South 

 Carolina, 5,814 ; Georgia, 15,837 total, 65,031. 

 It was further estimated that the number of 

 substitutes put into the army was from 20,000 

 to 25,000 ; and that, in addition, there were 

 over 10,000 fraudulent substitute papers held by 

 persons not in the service. According to some 

 of the estimates of the press, only about 90,000 

 persons remained in the States entirely under 

 Confederate control, who would be liable to 

 VOL. in. 2 A 



conscription, under the above proclamation of 

 July 15th. 



To increase still further the number of sol- 

 diers in service, the following order was issued 

 on July 25th : 



HEADQUARTERS PAROLED PRISONERS, ) 

 DEMOPOLIS, July 25th, 1863. ) 



The President of the Confederate States regarding 

 the furloughs granted the paroled prisoners from 

 Vicksburg of too great duration, in. the present con- 

 dition of the country, with the exception of those to 

 the men most distant from this camp, therefore, under 

 his instructions, all furloughs are rescinded, with the 

 exception of those to the trans-Mississippi Department 

 and from the State of Tennessee, which will remain as 

 before. The furloughs of the troops from Georgia are 

 reduced to twenty days. Those from Alabama and Mis- 

 sissippi to fifteen days. At the expiration of their 

 furloughs all officers and men will report at this place, 

 as far as practicable, in their former organizations. 

 Brigade commanders are authorized and instructed to 

 publish this order in the newspapers of the district in 

 which their respective commands were organized, and 

 will supervise the gathering together ana reorganiza- 

 tion of the same. 



By order of Lieutenant-Gen era! PEMBERTON. 

 F. M. STAFFORD, Acting Adjutant-General. 



The great source of weakness to the army 

 was desertion, straggling, and absenteeism. So 

 large was the number of those thus absent, that 

 a half or three fourths of them, added to the 

 forces in the field, were estimated to be suffi- 

 cient to give success at all points. As a 

 measure toward effecting their return to the 

 service, Jefferson Davis, on the 1st of August, 

 issued an earnest appeal to them, in which he 

 thus said : 



Fellow citizens, no alternative is left you but vic- 

 tory or subjugation, slavery, and the ruin of your- 

 selves, your families, and your country. The victory 

 is within your reach. You need but to stretch forth 

 your hand to grasp it. For this, all that is necessary 

 is that those who are called to the field by every mo- 

 tive that can move the human heart should promptly 

 repair to the post of duty, should stand by their com- 

 rades now in front of the foe, and thus so strengthen 

 the armies of the Confederacy as to insure success. 

 The men now absent from their posts would, if pres- 

 ent in the field, suffice to create numerical equality be- 

 tween our force and that of the invaders; and when, 

 with any approach to such equality, have we failed to 

 be victorious? I believe that but few of those absent 

 are actuated by unwillingness to serve their coun- 

 try, but that many have found it difficult to resist the 

 temptation to visit their homes and the loved ones 

 from whom they have been so long separated ; that 

 others have left lor temporary attention to their affairs 

 with the intention of returning, and then have shrunk 

 from the consequences of their violation of duty ; that 

 others again have left their posts from mere restless- 

 ness and desire of change, each quieting the upbraid- 

 ings of his conscience by persuading himself that his 

 individual services could have no influence on the gen- 

 eral result. 



These and other causes (although far less disgrace- 

 ful than the desire to avoid danger or to escape the 

 sacrifices required by patriotism) are, nevertheless, 

 grievous faults, and place the cause of our beloved 

 country, and everything we hold dear, in imminent 

 peril. I repeat that the men who now owe duty to 

 their country, who have been called out and who have 

 not yet reported for duty, or who have absented them- 

 selves from their posts, are sufficient in number to 

 secure us victory in the struggle now impending. 



I call on you, then, my countrymen, to hasten to 

 your camps, in obedience to the dictates of honor and 



