[MARCH 24, 1865. - For Lee to Davis, requesting that a requisition be made on the Governor of Virginia for negroes to serve as soldiers, see Series I, VOL. XLVI, Part III, p. 1339.]

GENERAL ORDERS,
ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL'S OFFICE, No. 15.
Richmond, Va., March 25, 1865.

I. The attention of the Army is directed to the following act of Congress, authorizing the consolidation of companies, battalions, and regiments. The casualties of war have reduced many command below the minimum specified in the act, and rendered necessary the reorganization of the armies of the Confederacy. The number of company and regimental organizations will be diminished, and a long list of valuable and meritorious officers will inevitably lose their commissions; but this can never be a cause of censure or reproach. It is a measure demanded by the public interest, and involves no imputation upon the character or conduct of any officer:

AN ACT to authorize the consolidation of companies, battalions, and regiments.

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That whenever any companies which are now in the service shall be so reduced as to number less than thirty-two men, rank and file, present and fit for duty, and when it shall be proved to the satisfaction of the Secretary of war, or the general commanding the department or the army in which said companies may be serving, that they cannot be recruited to that number within a reasonable time, the general commanding said department or army may, under general regulations to be issued by the Secretary of War, consolidate such companies.

SEC. 2. That new companies may be organized from the non-commissioned officers and privates of the companies thus consolidated, if they are from the same State, having a number, rank and file, not less than sixty-four nor more than one hundred and twenty-five, and the commissioned officers of said companies thus organized shall be one captain and one first and one second lieutenants, and the non-commissioned officers, four sergeant and four corporals.

SEC. 3. Whenever the consolidation of companies, battalions, and regiments shall have been determined upon, in accordance with the provisions of the first section of this act, the general commanding the department of separate army in which such reduced organizations are serving shall recommend, from the officers and men of the several organizations which it is proposed to consolidate, the officers for the command of the new organization, who shall forthwith assume the respective commands to which they may be assigned by the general commanding the department or separate army, subject to the subsequent appointment of the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

SEC. 4. Officers of the organization consolidated, not selected as officers of the new organizations, shall forthwith be notified of the fact, and from that time shall be dropped from the rolls. Such office may, within sixty days after the consolidation of their command, organize themselves in number sufficient to form companies, battalions, or regiments, and shall be officered from among themselves, by appointment of the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and the generals commanding the armies to which the consolidated organizations belong shall afford reasonable facilities for forming such organizations. The officers so dropped shall have the privilege of selecting the company and arm of the service in which they may desire to serve, whether such company belongs to the army with which they are now connected or some other army of the Confederate States, and shall be entitled to transportation to such company; and filling to make such selection, such officers, if liable to military duty, shall be conscribed and placed in the service where they may be found; but no officer in the hands of the enemy shall be dropped from the rolls by reason of anything contained in this section: Provided, That no officer shall be permitted to on the opposite side of the Mississippi River from where he is now on duty, unless he resides beyond said river.

SEC. 5. That hereafter all vacancies in the office of second lieutenant shall be filled by selections in the manner pointed out by the third section of this act, and