18 



ARMY, CONFEDERATE. 



of duty, and summon those who have absented them- 

 selves without leave, who have remained absent be- 

 yond the period allowed by their furloughs, to repair 

 without delay to their respective commands, and I do 

 hereby declare that I grant a general pardon and am- 

 nesty to all officers and men within the Confederacy, 

 now absent without leave, who shall, with the least 

 possible delay, return to their proper posts of duty ; 

 but no excuse will be received for any delay beyond 

 twenty days after the first publication of this proclama- 

 tion in the State in which the absentee may be at the 

 date of the publication. This amnesty and pardon 

 shall extend to all who have been accused, or who 

 have been convicted and are undergoing sentence for 

 absence without leave or desertion, excepting only 

 those who have been twice convicted of desertion. 



Finally, I conjure my countrywomen the wives, 

 mothers, sisters, and daughters, of the Confederacy 

 to use their all-powerful influence in aid of this call, 

 to add one crowning sacrifice to that which their patri- 

 otism has so freely and constantly afforded on their 

 country's altar, and to take care that none who owe 

 service in the field shall be sheltered at home from the 

 disgrace of having deserted their duty to their fam- 

 ilies, to their country, and to their God, 



Given under my hand, and the seal of the Confeder- 

 ate States, at Richmond, this 1st day of 

 [SEAL.] August, in the year of our Lord, one thou- 

 sand eight hunared and sixty -three. 



JEFFERSON DAVIS. 



By the President: 

 J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State. 



No bounties appear to have been paid to 

 volunteers, after the passage of the conscrip- 

 tion act, in 1862. Nor -were any efforts made 

 to fill up the quotas of States by contributions 

 to volunteers, as was done in the Northern 

 States. The only inducement to volunteer 

 was that such a -person could choose the com- 

 pany and regiment in which he would serve, 

 if the ranks were not full. Neither was there 

 any organized Sanitary Commission, as in the 

 Northern States, to cooperate with the Gov- 

 ernment, in the care of the sick and wounded 

 soldiers, thus applying all private contributions 

 to purposes for which they were given. 



Of the numbers of the Confederate army 

 during the year, nothing accurate is at present 

 known. Estimated by its conduct in battle, its 

 spirit, with one or two exceptions, has not 

 flagged; and as much vigor in their cause 

 was manifested, even to the close of the year, 

 as was ever shown in the field by the soldiers 

 heretofore. The most vigorous and untiring 

 efforts were made after the very extreme procla- 

 mation, in July, to recruit the array, and with 

 much success. 



Under the depreciation of the currency, the 

 pay of the soldiers sunk to an insignificant sum ; 

 and, to prevent local disturbances, measures 

 were taken in the several States to provide for 

 their destitute families. 



At the session of Congress, aUthe close 

 of the year, an act was introduced which de- 

 clared every man between the ages of eigh- 

 teen and fifty-five to be in the military service 

 for the war. Thus every one between these 

 ages was made subject at once to the articles 

 of war, to military discipline, and military pen- 

 alties; and, upon failure to report for duty at 

 a military station, within a certain time, he 



was liable to the penalty of death as a desert- 

 er. While the bill was under debate, the fol- 

 lowing remarks were made by some of the 

 members on an amendment to exempt farmers 

 and planters from the conscription : 



Mr. Smith, of North Carolina, said : " We have at 

 this time 400,000 men on our muster rolls. How many 

 were actually in the field, he was unable to state ; 

 it was probable one half were not there, and it was 

 well known that we were unable to feed the fractional 



Eart who were in the field. If, however, there were 

 alf if 200,000 should require the possible seizure of 

 one half of the provisions of the country where, he 

 would ask, were the means to feed the ten times 

 that number who remained at home ? Private appeals 

 were daily coming to the members of Congress from 

 soldiers in the army speaking of the suffering at home ; 

 how many of their families are wanting the necessa- 

 ries of life, when they are unable to send them any part 

 of their scanty pay. 



Mr. Chambers, of Virginia, said that manufactures 

 were as necessary as agriculture, and there was as 

 great deficiency in clothing to-day as there was in 

 food. We could, he believed, feed double two hun- 

 dred thousand men in the field; and if we could not, 

 then the sooner we made terms with Abraham Lin- 

 coln, the better for us. We must have more than two 

 hundred thousand men in the field next spring; we 

 have now all the supplies we will have then, for the 

 farmers' productions, won't be available until next 

 winter. Everybody admits and expects that next 

 spring will be the worst and the heaviest and most de- 

 cisive campaign that will occur, and yet there is a de- 

 mand for more exemptions. 



Mr. Goode, of Virginia, was able to state, upon the 

 best authority, that in reply to inquiries propounded 

 by Colonel Preston, Chief of the Conscript Bureau, all 

 of the enrolling officers of the State, who were assem- 

 bled here a few days ago, said that the State could not 

 stand another draft. 



Mr. Holcombe, of Virginia, said that by the bill, of 

 which this was an amendment, the entire agricultural 

 population would be put in the army, and that in a 

 country whose agricultural population igreatly outbal- 

 anced that of the cities and towns. We proposed to 

 put in all of every age, when it was known that it 

 was a precarious matter to supply, from week to week, 

 the army in the field. We now had five hundred 

 thousand men in the field to provide for ; and the new 

 law would add one hundred thousand more, and was 

 it possible to escape starvation when there were none 

 at home to provide for them ? It was our policy to 

 protract the war. Time and distance were our great 

 allies. We must remember that, in reference to this 

 State at least, our last crops were far below the aver- 

 age. Our space had been contracted, and all now 

 must be devoted to the production of provisions for 

 next year. Take away the men, and starvation at 

 home and ruin in the army would be, in his opinion, 

 the inevitable result" 



For the supply of the army a commissary 

 agent was appointed for each county, or one 

 for two or three counties, who was charged 

 with the duty of purchasing and impressing 

 supplies in his territory for the use of the 

 army. Such agent was usually a resident in 

 the county for which he was appointed. The 

 manner of conducting the impressment was 

 prescribed by Congress. (See CONGRESS, CON- 

 FEDERATE.) 



The report of the Secretary of War, made 

 near the close of the year, alluded to desertion, 

 straggling, and absenteeism, and said that the 

 effective force of the army was but little over 

 one half or two thirds of the men whose names 



