COMMEECIAL INTERCOURSE. 



197 



1863. The first, second, and third of the Reg- 

 ulations were as follows/ 



The territory of the United States designated as in 

 insurrection against the lawful Government of the 

 United States t>y the Proclamation of the President, 

 July 1st, 1862, to which special agents have been as- 

 signed to receive and collect abandoned and captured 

 property, is divided into districts called Special Agen- 

 cies, numerically designated and described as follows, 

 viz. : 



The First Special Agency comprises the district of 

 the United States west of the Alleghany mountains, 

 known as the Valley of the Mississippi, and extending 

 southward so as to include so much of the States of 

 Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana, as is, 

 or may be occupied by national forces operating from 

 the North. 



The Second Special Agency comprises the State of 

 Virginia, and so much of West Virginia as lies east of 

 the Alleghany mountains. 



The Tnird Special Agency comprises the State of 

 North Carolina. 



The Fourth Special Agency comprises the States of 

 South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. 



The Fifth Special Agency comprises the States of 

 Texas and Louisiana, and so much of the States of 

 Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi, as is, or may be 

 within the lines of the national forces operating from 

 the South. 



If additional Special Agencies shall be established, 

 they will be numerically designated in the order of 

 their establishment. And if the boundaries of agen- 

 cies already established shall be changed, due notice 

 thereof will be given. 



Supervising Special Agents and Assistant Special 

 Agents will be appointed by the Secretary of the 

 Treasury, and Local Special Agents and Agency Aids 

 will be appointed by Supervising Special Agents, or 

 under their direction by Assistant Special Agents, sub- 

 ject to the approval of the Secretary, to carry into ef- 

 fect the said Act and these Regulations. 



Supervising and Assistant Special Agents are author- 

 ized and directed to receive and collect all abandoned 

 and captured property found within their respective 

 Agencies, and within the lines of military occupation 

 by the United States forces, except such as has been 

 tised or was intended to be used for waging or carry- 

 ing on war against the United States, viz. : arms, ord- 

 nance, ships, steamboats or other water craft and their 

 furniture, forage, military supplies, and munitions of 

 war. 



The Regulations required the special agents 

 to collect and receive property, and make and 

 keep a true record and account of expenses ; 

 to receive voluntarily abandoned property, 

 give receipts, and take stipulations; to collect 

 and receive from officers and privates, sailors 

 and marines, abandoned property, and give re- 

 ceipts ; captured property in the hands of offi- 

 cers or others was to be turned over and re- 

 ceipts given ; property required for public uses 

 was to be appraised and delivered over ; per- 

 ishable property was to be sold ; household fur- 

 niture and family effects to be stored ; agents 

 might contract with others for the collection 

 and delivery of property; a bond was to be 

 given by the contractor to indemnify the Gov- 

 ernment ; local special agents and agency aids 

 were to be appointed ; necessary expenses were 

 to be paid ; property to be transported to loyal 

 States and sold, except household effects, per- 

 ishable property, and that taken for public 

 use. 



On the 3d of July, the Secretary addressed 



the following general circular to the agent at 

 Memphis, Tennessee : 



TBEAstmy DEPARTIKNT, July 3d, 1863. 

 SIR : I have received your letter of the 5th of June, 

 from Memphis, and also those of previous dates from 

 Cincinnati, relative to the collection of abandoned and 

 captured property within the States heretofore declar- 

 ed to be in insurrection. 



In reply, I think it important to direct your atten- 

 tion, in the first place, to the general distinctions un- 

 fler which all property, subject to the disposition of 

 national officers within the district under your super- 

 vision, may be arranged. 



There may be said to be four classes of such proper- 

 ty, viz. : abandoned, captured, commercial, and con- 

 fiscable. 



first ; Abandoned property is of two descriptions, 

 (1st), that which has been deserted by the owners; and 

 (2d), that which has been voluntarily abandoned by 

 them to the civil or military authorities of the United 

 States. Such property is to be collected or received 

 by the special agents of this department, and sold un- 

 der the authority of the Act of March 12th, 1863 ; and 

 the proceeds, after deducting the expenses of trans- 

 portation and sale, and other expenses attending the 

 collection and disposition thereof, are to be deposited 

 in the Treasury, subject to award by the Court of 

 Claims. Before this Court, claimants to such proper- 

 ty, or the proceeds thereof, have the right, -under the 

 Act, to prefer their claims at any time after the sale, 

 and before the expiration of two years from the close 

 of the war. No guaranty can be given to owners of 

 abandoned property in respect to the time when, or 

 the persons to whom proceeds will be paid. 



Second ; Captured property is understood to be that 

 which has been seized or taken from hostile possession 

 by the military or naval forces of the United States, 

 and is to be turned over, with certain exceptions named, 

 to the Special Agent of this Department, in accordance 

 with the provisions of the Act of March 12th, 1863. All 

 property taken possession of by military or naval 

 forces and turned over to Special Agents, must be re- 

 garded as prima facie captured property. Such prop- 

 erty you will receive and direct to be sold, and will 

 cause the proceeds to be deposited in the Treasury, 

 subject to the future award of the Court of Claims. 



Captured property which is held as lawful prize by 

 the navy is not to be turned over to the Department 

 Agents, nor to be in any way controlled by them. 



Third ; Commercial property is that which has 

 been or may_ be sold ana purchased under thfi license 

 of the President, through permits granted by the 

 officers of the Treasury Department. 



Fourth ; Confiscable property is that which belongs 

 to certain classes of persons, as recited in the Confisca- 

 tion Act of July 17th, 1862, and is liable to seizure and 

 condemnation by judicial proceedings in the manner 

 prescribed by that act. 



Great care must be exercised in properly classifying 

 all property, that the provisions of the law applicable 

 to each class may be complied with ; and it must be 

 remembered that with the property included in the 

 fourth class, unless found deserted and abandoned, 

 the Agents of the Treasury Department have no author- 

 ity to interfere. The execution of the Confiscation 

 Act is confided by its express terms to the President, 

 by whom the Attorney-General has been charged with 

 the direction of all seizures and proceedings under it. 

 It must be remembered, also, that all property com- 

 ing from insurrectionary districts into loyal States, or 

 in reversed direction, or being transported within or 

 to insurrectionary districts, in contravention of law or 

 Departmental Regulations, is forfeited or forfeitable; 

 and that it is the duty of the Agents of the Depart- 

 ment, as well as of other proper officers, to enforce the 

 forfeitures thus incurred ; but property thus forfeited 

 or forfeitable must not be confounded with confiscated 

 or confiscable property, which is to be proceeded 

 against and disposed of under the Act of July 17th, 1862, 

 or with prize-money captured by the navy, and sub- 



