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128 Series I Volume XLI-IV Serial 86 - Price's Missouri Expedition Part IV

Page 128 LOUISIANA AND THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. Chapter LIII.

As provided in Special Orders, Numbers 82, headquarters Armies of the United States, dated in the field, Virginia, August 28, 1864 ---

All deserters who take the oath of allegiance will, if they desire it, be given employment in the quartermaster's and other departments of the army, and the same remuneration paid them as is given to civilian employees for similar services. Forced military duty, or service endangering them to capture by the Confederate forces, will not be exacted from such as give themselves up to the U. S. military authorities.

Exemption will not be made for disability, unless it be of such permanent character as to render the person unfit for service for a period of more than thirty days, to be certified to by the medical officer of the commission.

Commissions authorized in this order shall consist of a field officer, a medical officer of the army, and a line officer. Tri-weekly reports of proceedings will be forwarded to these headquarters.

Fourth. Upon the receipt of the rolls by the special commissions immediate notice will be given, by handbills posted in each parish, of the time and place at which claims of exemption will be received and determined. The limit of time allowed for the presentation of such claims will be ten days from the receipt of the rolls by the commissions. All persons claiming exemption will present their case with proof before the expiration of the time, and if the evidence show him to be exempt under the regulations contained in article 3, his name shall be stricken from the roll by a line drawn through it, leaving it still legible.

Section 12 of the act approved February 24, 1864, for enrolling and calling out the national forces, is here given for general information:

SECTION 12. And be it further enacted that any person who shall forcibly resist or oppose any enrollment, or who shall incite, counsel, encourage, or who shall conspire or confederate with any other person or persons forcibly to resist or oppose any such enrollment, or who shall aid or take any part in any forcible resistance or opposition thereto, or who shall assault, obstruct, hinder, impede, or threaten any officer or other person employed in making, or in aiding to make, such enrollment or employed in the performance, or in aiding in the performance, of any service in any way military service of the United States, shall, upon conviction thereof in any court competent to try the offense, be punished by a fine not exceeding $5,000 or by imprisonment not exceeding five years, or by both of said punishments in the discretion of the court.l And in cases where such assaulting, obstructing, hindering, or impeding shall produce the death of such officer or other person, the offender shall be deemed guilty of murder, and upon conviction thereof upon indictment in the circuit court of the United States for the district within which the offense was committed, shall be punished with death. And nothing in this section contained shall be constructed to relieve the party offending from liability under proper indictment or process for any crime against the laws of a State committed by him while violating the provisions of this section.

Colonel F. A. Starring, Seventy-second Illinois Volunteers, having reported to these headquarters in obedience to orders from headquarters Military Division of West Mississippi, is hereby appointed assistant provost-marshal-general and is placed in charge of this enrollment.

By command of Major-General Hurlbut:

GEORGE B. DRAKE,

Major and Assistant Adjutant-General.


HEADQUARTERS U. S. FORCES,
Morganza, La., October 20, 1864.

Colonel DAVIS:

Our prisoners will arrive for exchange at Red River Landing on Saturday. I have instructed Colonel Baldwin, commanding at Simsport,


Page 128 LOUISIANA AND THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. Chapter LIII.