five officers, whose duty it shall be to examine the capacity, qualifications, propriety of conduct and efficiency of any commissioned officer of volunteers within his department or army who may be reported to the board or commission and upon such report, if adverse to such officer, and if approved by the President of the United States, the commission of such officer shall be vacated; Provided always. That no officer shall be eligible to sit on such board or commission whose rank or promotion would in any way be affected by its proceedings and two members at lest, if practicable, shall be of equal rank of the officer being examined. And when vacancies occur in any of the companies of volunteers an election shall be called by the colonel of the regiment of fill such vacancies, and the men of each company shall vote in their respective companies for all officers ashigh as captain and vacancies above captain shall be filled by the votes ofo the comissioned officers of the regiment, and all offsioned by the respective Governors of the States or by the President of the United States.

SEC. 11. And be it further enacted, That all letters written by soldiers in the service of the United States may be transmitted through the mails without prepayment of postage, under such regulations as the Post-Office Department may prescribe, the postage thereon to be paid by the recipients.

SEC. 12. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to introduce among the volunteer forces in the service of the United States the system of allotment tickets now used in the Navy, or some equivalent system, by which the family of the volunteer may draw such portions of his pay as he may request.

Approved July 22, 1861.

AN ACT in addition to the "Act to authorize the employment of volunteers to aid in enforcing the laws and protecting public property." approved July twenty-second, eighteen hundred and sixty-one.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States, be, and he is hereby, authorized to accept the services of volunteers, either as cavalry, infantry, or artillery, in such numbers as the exigencies of the public service, may,in his opinion, demand, to be organized as authorized by the act of the twenty-second of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-one: Provided, That the number of troops hereby authorized shall not exceed 500,000.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted. That the volunteers authorized by this act shall be armed as the President may direct: they shall be subject to the rules and articles of war, and shall be upon the footing, in all respects, with similar corps of the U. S. Army, and shall be mustered into the service for "during the war."

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the President shall be authorized to appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, for the command of the volunteer forces, such number of major-generals and of brigadier-generals as may in his judgment be required for their organization.

Approved July 25, 1861.*

By order:

L. THOMAS,

Adjutant-General.

---------------

*Under the acts of July 22 and 25 and the President's call of May 3 (confirmed by act of August 6) the quotas (based on the census of 1860) and credits were as follows, the first number indicating the quota and the second number the men furnished:

---------------