24 



AKMY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



less number of batteries, and the colonel, two majors, 

 and one assistant surgeon mustered but. 



4. The companies and batteries formed by consolida- 

 tion will be or the maximum strength, and will be or- 

 ganized as now directed by law and regulations. The 

 nrst letters of the alphabet will be used to designate 

 the companies. 



5. The company officers, commissioned and non- 

 commissioned, rendered supernumerary, wilt be mus- 

 tered out of service at the date of consolidation. All 

 other officers and non-commissioned officers will be re- 

 tained. 



6. The officers to be retained will be selected by the 

 division and corps commanders, under the instructions 

 of the commanding general of the army or department, 

 from among the most efficient officers of the respective 

 regiments. After the consolidation, as herein directed, 

 the reduced proportion of officers will be maintained, 

 and no appointments to vacancies will be made except 

 upon notification from the adjutant-general of the 

 army. To this end commanders of armies and de- 

 partments will report weekly to the adjutant-generals 

 the vacancies to be filled. The said reports will be 

 separate for each State, and must embrace the name, 

 rank, and regiment of the party creating the vacancy, 

 with date and cause thereof. If an order was issued 

 in the case, its number, date, and source must be given. 

 Commissaries and assistant commissaries of musters 

 will closely observe this paragraph, and make no mus- 

 ters in except of .the proportion herein fixed. 



The difficulty attending the execution of this 

 order, and the positive loss which the service 

 would incur by the withdrawal of numerous 

 competent officers, apart from the injustice to 

 the officers themselves, were readily perceived; 

 and soon after its promulgation the corps com- 

 manders of the army of the Potomac unani- 

 mously requested the commander-in-chief to 

 take no action in the matter until the disas- 

 trous effect of such a step could be laid before 

 the President. In accordance with these sug- 

 gestions, the power has been, but sparingly 

 used, and only where the discharge of officers 

 would prove a positive benefit to the regiment 

 or the service. Kecruiting was wisely substi- 

 tuted as a means of restoring efficiency; and 

 old regiments, reduced by battle and hardships, 

 but proud of their well earned fame, were al- 

 lowed to retain their experienced and familiar 

 leaders, whom, in many cases, they considered 

 an indispensable part of their organization. 



By official returns made in January, 1863, it 

 was estimated that there were then absent 

 from duty, 8,987 officers, and 280,073 non- 

 commissioned officers and privates, of whom 

 only a part were really disabled or sick, the rest 

 being mainly deserters or stragglers who absent- 

 ed themselves in order to avoid duty. The Gov- 

 ernment itself was responsible in a measure 

 for this state of things, from the readiness with 

 which it had permitted furloughs to be grant- 

 ed, and from its neglect to punish abuses of 

 the privilege. Many of the absentees were 

 living openly at their homes, having far ex- 

 ceeded the reasonable time allowed for recov- 

 ery from wounds or sickness, and among these 

 a lax sentiment had grown up in regard to the 

 obligations of a furlough, which they began 

 finally to consider as equivalent to a discharge 

 from the service. Many probably honestly be- 

 lieved that, having obtained a furlough, they 



might overstay their time without incurring 

 the reproach of desertion ; and more still, see- 

 ing that no measures were taken to reclaim or 

 punish deserters, openly defied the authority 

 of the Government by resuming their ordinary 

 occupations in time of peace." There was 

 abundant evidence, also, that disaffected per- 

 sons were systematically employed in promot- 

 ing desertion, either by enticing men from 

 their regiments, or persuading them to over- 

 stay their furloughs until they were afraid to 

 return to the army, and become amenable to 

 punishment. 



The publication of these statistics naturally 

 alarmed the country, and with a view of re- 

 storing to the service much of its proper ma- 

 terial, and of discouraging the practice of de- 

 sertion, a special clause was inserted in the 

 Conscription Act, upon which the President 

 framed the following proclamation : 



EXECUTIVE MANSION, March 10th, 1863. 



In pursuance of the twenty-sixth section of the act 

 of Congress, entitled an act for enrolling and calling 

 out the national forces, and for other purposes, ap- 

 proved on the third of March, in the year one thousand 

 eight hundred and sixty-three, I, Abraham Lincoln, 

 President and commander-in-chicf of the army and 

 navy of the United States, do hereby order and com- 

 mand that all soldiers enlisted or drafted into the ser- 

 vice of the United States, now absent from their regi- 

 ments without leave, shall forthwith return to their re- 

 spective regiments, and I do hereby declare and pro- 

 claim that all soldiers now absent from their respective 

 regiments without leave who shall on or before the 1st 

 day of April, 1863, report themselves at any rendez- 

 vous designated by the General Orders of the War 

 Department, No. 58, hereto annexed, may be restored 

 to their respective regiments without punishment, ex- 

 cept the forfeiture of pay and allowances during their 

 absence, and all who do not return within the time 

 above specified, shall be arrested as deserters, and 

 punished as the law provides. 



And whereas evil disposed and disloyal persons, at 

 sundry places, have enticed and procured soldiers to 

 desert and absent themselves from their regiments, 

 thereby weakening the strerigth of the armies and pro- 

 longing the war, giving aid and comfort to the enemy, 

 and cruelly exposing the gallant and faithful soldiers 

 remaining in the ranks to increased hardships and 

 dangers ; 



I do, therefore, call upon all patriotic and faithful 

 citizens to oppose and resist the aforementioned dan- 

 gerous and treasonable crimes, and aid in restoring to 

 their regiments all soldiers absent without leave, and 

 to assist in the execution of the act of Congress for 

 "enrolling and calling out the national forces and for 

 other purposes," and to support the proper authorities 

 in the prosecution and punishment 01 offenders against 

 said act, and aid in suppressing the insurrection and 

 the rebellion. 



In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand. 



Done at the city of Washington, this 10th day_ of 

 March, in the vear of our Lord one thousand eight 

 hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of 

 the United States eighty-seventh. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



By the President : 

 EDWIN M. STANTOX, Secretary of War. 



The proclamation had the effect of inducing 

 many deserters to return voluntarily to their 

 duty, and the enforcement of strict orders is- 

 sued by the commanders of several depart- 

 ments caused the compulsory return of others. 

 In a corresponding degree the temptation to 



