men residents of said States, between the ages of eigh teen and forty-five years, not legally exempted from military service; and I do hereby order and direct that all persons subject to this call and not now in the military service, do, upon being enrolled, forthwith repair to the conscript camps established in the respective States of which they may be residents, under pain of being held and punished as deserters, in the event of their failure to obey this call, as provided in said laws. And I do further order and direct that the enrolling officers of the several States proceed at once to enrol all persons embraced within the terms of this proclamation, and not heretofore enrolled. And I do further order that it shall be lawful for any person embraced within this call to volunteer for service before enrolment, and that persons so volunteering be allowed to select the arm of service and the company which they desire to join, provided such Company be deficient in the full number of men allowed by law, or its organization. Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate States of America, at the city of Richmond, this fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three. By the President: JEFFERSON DAVIS. J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State. It was estimated that the number which this conscription would bring out would be as follows: Alabama, Georgia, 12,230 Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, 6,000 South Carolina, conscription, under the above proclamation of July 15th. To increase still further the number of soldiers in service, the following order was issued on July 25th: HEADQUARTERS PAROLED PRISONERS, DEMOPOLIS, July 25th, 1863. The President of the Confederate States regarding the furloughs granted the paroled prisoners from Vicksburg of too great duration, in the present condition of the country, with the exception of those to the men most distant from this camp, therefore, under his instructions, all furloughs are rescinded, with the exception of those to the trans-Mississippi Department and from the State of Tennessee, which will remain as before. The furloughs of the troops from Georgia are reduced to twenty days. Those from Alabama and Mis sissippi to fifteen days. At the expiration of their furloughs all officers and men will report at this place, as far as practicable, in their former organizations. Brigade commanders are authorized and instructed to publish this order in the newspapers of the district in which their respective commands were organized, and will supervise the gathering together and reorganization of the same. By order of Lieutenant-General PEMBERTON. F. M. STAFFORD, Acting Adjutant-General. The great source of weakness to the army was desertion, straggling, and absenteeism. So 1,200 large was the number of those thus absent, that 9,000 a half or three fourths of them, added to the 6,500 forces in the field, were estimated to be suffi18,000 cient to give success at all points. As a measure toward effecting their return to the service, Jefferson Davis, on the 1st of August, issued an earnest appeal to them, in which he thus said: 77,323 8,000 5,000 27,000 The total estimate was 104,323. That portion to be contributed by the States partly in possession of the Federal forces cannot be considered otherwise than as over-estimated. Some of the number liable had also gone voluntorily to the field, which would make the estimate about 75,000 men. A most important decision was given by the Supreme Court at Richmond relative to persons liable to conscription. It decided that the act contemplated the conscription of all "residents" in the Confederate States between the prescribed ages, whether they were "resilents in pursuit of pleasure, money, business, or any other object. There were, at the time, many thousands of young, able-bodied men, from Maryland and Kentucky residing in various parts of the Confederacy. A report of the Conscript Bureau presented to Congress estimated the number of exempts in the four States under its charge as follows: Virinia, 20,370; North Carolina, 22,807; South Carolina, 5,814; Georgia, 15,837-total, 65,031. it was further estimated that the number of bstitutes put into the army was from 20,000 25,000; and that, in addition, there were er 10,000 fraudulent substitute papers held by Tersons not in the service. According to some the estimates of the press, only about 90,000 persons remained in the States entirely under Confederate control, who would be liable to VOL. III.-2 A Fellow citizens, no alternative is left you but victory or subjugation, slavery, and the ruin of yourselves, your families, and your country. The victory is within your reach. You need but to stretch forth your hand to grasp it. For this, all that is necessary is that those who are called to the field by every motive that can move the human heart should promptly repair to the post of duty, should stand by their comrades now in front of the foe, and thus so strengthen The men now absent from their posts would, if presthe armies of the Confederacy as to insure success. ent in the field, suffice to create numerical equality between our force and that of the invaders; and when, with any approach to such equality, have we failed to be victorious? I believe that but few of those absent are actuated by unwillingness to serve their country, but that many have found it difficult to resist the temptation to visit their homes and the loved ones from whom they have been so long separated; that others have left for temporary attention to their affairs with the intention of returning, and then have shrunk from the consequences of their violation of duty; that others again have left their posts from mere restlessness and desire of change, cach quieting the upbraid ings of his conscience by persuading himself that his individual services could have no influence on the gen eral result. These and other causes (although far less disgrace ful than the desire to avoid danger or to escape the sacrifices required by patriotism) are, nevertheless, grievous faults, and place the cause of our beloved country, and everything we hold dear, in imminent peril. I repeat that the men who now owe duty to their country, who have been called out and who have not yet reported for duty, or who have absented them selves from their posts, are sufficient in number to secure us victory in the struggle now impending. your camps, in obedience to the dictates of honor and I call on you, then, my countrymen, to hasten to of duty, and summon those who have absented themselves without leave, who have remained absent beyond the period allowed by their furloughs, to repair without delay to their respective commands, and I do hereby declare that I grant a general pardon and amnesty to all officers and men within the Confederacy, now absent without leave, who shall, with the least possible delay, return to their proper posts of duty; but no excuse will be received for any delay beyond twenty days after the first publication of this proclamation in the State in which the absentee may be at the date of the publication. This amnesty and pardon shall extend to all who have been accused, or who have been convicted and are undergoing sentence for absence without leave or desertion, excepting only those who have been twice convicted of desertion. Finally, I conjure my country women-the wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters, of the Confederacyto use their all-powerful influence in aid of this call, to add one crowning sacrifice to that which their patriotism has so freely and constantly afforded on their country's altar, and to take care that none who owe service in the field shall be sheltered at home from the disgrace of having deserted their duty to their families, to their country, and to their God, Given under my hand, and the seal of the Confederate States, at Richmond, this 1st day of August, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three. JEFFERSON DAVIS. [SEAL.] er. was liable to the penalty of death as a desertWhile the bill was under debate, the following remarks were made by some of the members on an amendment to exempt farmers and planters from the conscription: Mr. Smith, of North Carolina, said: "We have at this time 400,000 men on our muster rolls. How many were actually in the field, he was unable to state; it was probable one half were not there, and it was well known that we were unable to feed the fractional If, however, there were part who were in the field.. half-if 200,000 should require the possible seizure of one half of the provisions of the country-where, be would ask, were the means to feed the ten times that number who remained at home? Private appeals were daily coming to the members of Congress from soldiers in the army speaking of the suffering at home; how many of their families are wanting the necessaries of life, when they are unable to send them any part of their scanty pay." Mr. Chambers, of Virginia, said that manufactures were as necessary as agriculture, and there was as great deficiency in clothing to-day as there was in food. We could, he believed, feed double two hundred thousand men in the field; and if we could not, then the sooner we made terms with Abraham Lincoln, the better for us. We must have more than two hundred thousand men in the field next spring; we have now all the supplies we will have then, for the farmers' productions won't be available until next winter. Everybody admits and expects that next spring will be the worst and the heaviest and most decisive campaign that will occur, and yet there is a demand for more exemptions. Mr. Goode, of Virginia, was able to state, upon the best authority, that in reply to inquiries propounded of the enrolling officers of the State, who were assem by Colonel Preston, Chief of the Conscript Bureau, all bled here a few days ago, said that the State could not stand another draft. By the President: J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of State. No bounties appear to have been paid to volunteers, after the passage of the conscription act, in 1862. Nor were any efforts made to fill up the quotas of States by contributions to volunteers, as was done in the Northern States. The only inducement to volunteer was that such a person could choose the company and regiment in which he would serve, Mr. Holcombe, of Virginia, said that by the bill, of if the ranks were not full. Neither was there which this was an amendment, the entire agricultural any organized Sanitary Commission, as in the population would be put in the army, and that in a country whose agricultural population greatly outbalNorthern States, to cooperate with the Gov-anced that of the cities and towns. We proposed to ernment, in the care of the sick and wounded put in all of every age, when it was known that it soldiers, thus applying all private contributions was a precarious matter to supply, from week to week, the army in the field. We now had five hundred to purposes for which they were given. thousand men in the field to provide for; and the new law would add one hundred thousand more, and was it possible to escape starvation when there were none at home to provide for them? It was our policy to protract the war. Time and distance were our great allies. We must remember that, in reference to this State at least, our last crops were far below the aver age. Our space had been contracted, and all now must be devoted to the production of provisions for home and ruin in the army would be, in his opinion, next year. Take away the men, and starvation at the inevitable result." Of the numbers of the Confederate army during the year, nothing accurate is at present known. Estimated by its conduct in battle, its spirit, with one or two exceptions, has not flagged; and as much vigor in their cause was manifested, even to the close of the year, as was ever shown in the field by the soldiers heretofore. The most vigorous and untiring efforts were made after the very extreme proclamation, in July, to recruit the army, and with much success. Under the depreciation of the currency, the pay of the soldiers sunk to an insignificant sum ; and, to prevent local disturbances, measures were taken in the several States to provide for their destitute families. At the session of Congress, at the close of the year, an act was introduced which declared every man between the ages of eighteen and fifty-five to be in the military service for the war. Thus every one between these ages was made subject at once to the articles of war, to military discipline, and military penalties; and, upon failure to report for duty at a military station, within a certain time, he For the supply of the army a commissary agent was appointed for each county, or one for two or three counties, who was charged with the duty of purchasing and impressing supplies in his territory for the use of the army. Such agent was usually a resident in the county for which he was appointed. The manner of conducting the impressment was prescribed by Congress. (See CONGRESS, CONFEDERATE.) The report of the Secretary of War, made near the close of the year, alluded to desertion, straggling, and absenteeism, and said that the effective force of the army was but little over one half or two thirds of the men whose names ere on the muster rolls. He recommended the repeal of the substitute and exemptive provisions, and that all having substitutes be put back into the field, and stated that the privileges which Congress granted, to put in substitutes, could be regularly and constitutionally abrogated by the same power. He said that no compact was entered into between the Government and the person furnishing a substitute, as had been alleged, but only a privilege which Government accorded. Instead of complaining of such abrogation, the person ought to feel gratified at what had heretofore been allowed him. He recommended an abridgment of exemptions and the conscription of all, making details according to the wants of society at home. The Secretary said that the three years' men, when their terms expire, could not be finally discharged, and should be retained, allowing them to choose the existing company, under its present organization, in the same arm of the service. He recommended the consolidation of such companies and regiments as were reduced below a certain complement. The following is a list of the officers in the rebel service, who previously belonged to the regular army of the United States: Armstrong, Francis C., Captain, 2d Dragoons. Deshler, James, First Lieutenant, 10th Infantry. Hoxton, Llewellyn, brevet Second Lieutenant, Ord nance Department. Holloway, Edinunds B., Captain, 8th Infantry. Haskell, Alexander M., 2d Lieutenant, 1st Infantry. Armistead, L. A., Captain and brevet Major, 6th Huger, Frank, Second Lieutenant, 10th Infantry. Adams, John, Captain, 1st Dragoons. Alexander, J. B. S., Second Lieutenant, 9th Infantry. Anderson, G. B., First Lieutenant, 2d Dragoons. Blair, William B., Captain, Commissary Department. Borland, Harold, brevet 2d Lieutenant, 5th Infantry. Claiborne, Thomas J., Captain, Mounted Rifles. Collins, Charles R., brevet Second Lieutenant, Topo- Cooke, John R., First Lieutenant, Sth Infantry. Heth, Henry, Captain, 10th Infantry. Jackson, Wm. II., Second Lieutenant, Mounted Rifles. Johnson, Edw., Captain and brevet Major, 6th Infantry. Jackson, Andrew, Jr., Second Lieutenant, 1st Cavalry. Jones, David R., brevet Captain and Assistant Adju- Jones, Thomas M., First Lieutenant, Sth Infantry. Lee, Stephen D., First Lieutenant, 4th Artillery. Lockett, Sam'l H., brevet 2d Lieutenant, Engineers. Maury, Dabney H., Captain and Assistant Adjutant, Myers, Abraham C., Captain and brevet Lieutenant, Marmaduke, John S., Second Lieutenant, 7th Infantry. Mullins, John, First Lieutenant, 2d Dragoons. Montgomery, Alexander B., Second Lieutenant, 4th Magruder, William J., Captain, 1st Cavalry. O'Bannon, Lawrence W., First Lieutenant, 3d Infantry. Pemberton, John C., Captain and brevet Major, 4th Pender, William D., First Lieutenant, 1st Dragoons. Rich, Lucius L., First Lieutenant, 5th Infantry. Rice, Olin F., Second Lieutenant, 6th Infantry. onel, 5th Infantry. Reynolds, Alex. W., Captain and Assist. Quartermaster. Smith, William D., Captain, 2d Dragoons. Slaughter, James E., First Lieutenant, 1st Artillery. Stith, Donald C., Captain, 5th Infantry. Taylor, John G, First Lieutenant, Sth Infantry. Tyler, Charles H., Captain, 2d Dragoons. ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES. Of January 1st, 1863, the army of the United States, comprising the regular troops, and the volunteers obtained under the various calls made by the President since the commencement of the war, numbered probably between 600,000 and 700,000 men. Of the whole number of men voluntarily raised to that date no precise statement can be afforded, the information furnished by some of the reports being so obscure that it is difficult to decide to which class of service (that of the individual States or of the General Government), the troops furnished belong; but the following table is believed to be as complete as it is possible to make it: Twiggs, David E., Brigadier-General and brevet Ma- the service of, the United States, the number jor-General, U. S. A. Van Dorn, Earl, Major, 2d Cavalry. Villepigue, John V., First Lieutenant, 2d Dragoons. Williams, William O., First Lieutenant, 2d Cavalry. Withers, Jolan, Captain and Assist. Adjutant-General. Wayne, Henry C., Captain and brevet Major, Quarter master's Department. Williams, Solomon, Second Lieutenant, 2d Dragoons. Walker, Henry II., First Lieutenant, 6th Infantry. Winder, John H., Major and brevet Lieutenant-Colonel, Sd Artillery. Washington, T. A., First Lieutenant, 1st Infantry. of men engaged from April, 1861, to January, 1863, will probably not vary much from a million and a half. The troops actually in service at the close of 1862, comprising 3 years', 2 years', 12 months', 9 months' men and regu lars, represented organizations amounting originally to an aggregate of 1,200,000; but among these the casualties of the field, diseases of the camp, discharges for physical disability, and desertions, had made fearful inroads, some regiments having within a year of their enlistment been reduced to less than the strength of a couple of full companies. As an illustration at once of the bravery of the troops and of the rate at which the army is depleted, Gen. Meade stated in reply to an address of welcome from the mayor of Philadelphia, that from March, 1862, when the army of the Potomac left its lines in front of Washington, to the close of 1863, not less than a hundred thousand men in it had been killed and wounded. The causes and rate of the depletion in this and other military departments will be found treated under the heads of HYGIENE OF THE ARMY more fully. In view of the serious loss of disciplined troops which would be caused by the return home of the 2 years', 12 months' and 9 months' regiments, comprising an aggregate of about 65,000 men, whose terms of enlistment would expire during the summer and autumn of 1863, the Government early in the year took measures to obtain the passage of an Enrolment and Conscription Act, authorizing the President to recruit the army, when necessary, by drafting from the able-bodied male citizens of the country between the ages of twenty and fortyfive. The measure was unpopular in many parts of the country, though few, if any, among the party in favor of carrying on the war objected to it upon principle, as a final and peremptory means of providing men. They, however, preferred volunteering as more effective and more in accordance with republican institutions. In reply to these objections it was urged that volunteering under the last call had proceeded slowly, that the bounties demanded were excessive, and that the quota of many States, even under the inducement of heavy bounties, had not been filled. These reasons being deemed conclusive, the conscrip: tion act became a law on March 3d; in the succeeding May and June the enrolment was effected in most of the States, and early in the former month a draft of 300,000 men was ordered, the conscription commencing in the several districts into which the country was divided by the provost marshal-general and his assistants, as soon as the enrolment was completed and the quota in each assigned. For the operations of the conscription act, see ENROLMENT. On December 1st, 1863, the draft had resulted, in twelve States in which it was enforced, in adding about 50,000 men to the army, and in the accumulation of a fund of $10,518,000, derived from commutations under what is known as the "Three Hundred Dollar clause" of the act, which was reserved for the procurement of recruits by bounties. On June 15th, under apprehensions of an invasion of Pennsylvania and other Northern States, the President issued a proclamation, calling for 100,000 militia to be mustered into the United States service for six months- unless sooner discharged, viz. : from Maryland, 10,000; from Pennsylvania, 50,000; from Ohio, 30,000; and from West Virginia, 10,000; and directing that these States should be respectively credited under the Enrolment Act for the militia service rendered under the proclamation. The governor of New York also received a requisition for 20,000 men. The latter call was obeyed with commendable promptitude, and very nearly to the extent required by the President; but from the States most immediately affected by the invasion of Gen. Lee, the number of men thus obtained was proportionately less. The speedy retirement of the Confederates after the battle of Gettysburg rendered the services of these troops useless, and by August 1st they were nearly all disbanded. It having become apparent to the Government, during the progress of the draft, that the act of March 3d was insufficient to supply the army with recruits, the President issued a call on October 15th for 300,000 volunteers, to be enlisted by the governors of the different States "for the various companies and regiments in the field from their respective States." The volunteers thus enlisted were declared entitled to advance pay, premium, and bounty, as previously established by Government for enlisted troops; and, together with all other volunteers not previously credited, were to be credited on and deducted from the quotas established for the draft. Should any State fail to raise the quota assigned to it by the War Department under this call, then a draft for the deficiency was to be made on the State or its districts on January 5th, 1861. Nothing in the proclamation was to interfere with existing orders, or any subsequently to be issued, for the draft then in progress or where it had not commenced; and it was stated that in the assignment of quotas of States and districts due regard would be had for the men previously furnished, whether by volunteering or drafting. This call differed in several particulars from any previously made, and indicated the adoption of a wiser policy in reference to reenforcing the army. In the first place the troops were ordered to be raised six months or more before the expiration of the terms of any of the three years' men, and not, as previously, when there was imperative need of their services, either to repel invasions, to save the menaced capital, or to fill the places of those whose term of enlistment was about to expire. They were to be incorporated into the various organizations in the field, and not formed into new regiments or companies. And lastly, the people were called upon to decide under which system, volunteering or the draft, they would replenish the wasted battalions of the army, thus relieving the Government from the odium which, in the opinion of many, its enforcement of the conscription had brought upon it. But although the call was made several months in advance of the withdrawal of the enlisted men of 1861, it came none too soon for the needs of the country. Estimating_the strength of the army at 650,000 men, on Jan. 1st, 1863, we have to deduct from that number 10,000 two years' and 55,000 to 60,000 nine months' men, whose terms expired previous to October; and if from the remainder we make a further deduction of 25 per cent. for losses of every description, which is the ascertained |