HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, January 10, 1865.- Ordered 
 to be printed. 
 
 [By Mr. Ater. 
 
 The undersigned, a minority of the special committee of five, 
 appointed under resolution upon the subject of conscription, differ- 
 ing from tlie majority of the committee, beg leave to submit tho 
 accompanying bill, as embodying their views upon the subject, and 
 recommend its adoption in lieu of the bill reported by the majori- 
 ty of the committee. 
 
 ST. GEO. ROGERS, 
 LEWIS M. AVER. 
 
 AJST ACT 
 
 To provide for the moi at execution of conscription, and 
 
 for the arrest of deserters and absentees from the arm 
 
 1 The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, 
 
 2 That there -hall be established at the city of Richmond, ui 
 
 3 the orders of the President and Secretary of War, a Bureau 
 
 4 of Conscription for the purpose of supervising, controlling and 
 
 5 directing all matters concerning the administration of conscrip- 
 G ticn, end of performing such other duties in relation thereto as, 
 
 7 laiions, the Secretary of War may charge on sa r u Bu- 
 
 8 reau : and tl thorizcl to assign to t'v superin- 
 
 9 tend r emcnt of said bureau, such offi *er as ho 
 10 ma- h officer shall not be of rank be 
 
 l! mi ■■' moral, And provided, said officer shall not, 
 
 12 durfng BUcr, he hi exercising the office of sup 
 
 13 dent, hold 0] tnal military command in the field 
 
 14 nor in the reserve forces, nor in any other military organiza- 
 
 15 (ion. And, with like limitations. thr> President shall assi/n to 
 
 16 daty in reau, one officer with ihe rank of colonel, ono 
 IT - !th the ra"k of lieutenant-rolonel. one officer with tho 
 16 iank of major, one officer with the rank of captain, three offi- 
 
 witli the rank""! and such clerks as mar be 
 
2 
 
 20 found necessary; Provided, All such officers, except the superin- 
 
 21 tendent, shsll be selected from the classes hereafter indicated in 
 
 22 the sections of this act: 
 
 1 Sec. 2. There shall be assigned from the general staff or in- 
 
 2 valid corps, or from officers certified by the proper medical 
 
 3 boards to be unfit for service in the field, and from drill masters 
 
 4 now employed in the enrolling service, a sufficient number of 
 
 5 officers to perform the duties herein prescribed in the several 
 
 6 states, with the temporary rank of colonel, lieutenant-colonel, 
 
 7 major, captain or lieutenant, according to the nature and impor- 
 
 8 lance of the duties prescribed. 
 
 1 Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, That the President may appoint , 
 
 2 by and with the advice and consent of the Senate : for duty in 
 
 3 the conscript service, with the temporary rank aforesaid, per- 
 
 4 sons from civil life; Provided, The said persons so appointed be 
 
 5 otherwise excn pt from military service, or found by medical 
 
 6 examination for light duty, or are over the ag>3 of forty-five 
 
 7 years. 
 
 1 Sec. 4. Nothing in this act shall be construed to prevent the 
 
 2 President from assigning to conscript service, officers now en- 
 
 3 gaged in that service, or officers in the army of any rank. 
 
 1 Sec. 5. Be it further enac ed, That it shall be the duty of the 
 
 2 officers of conscription, under the coatrol and direction of the 
 
 3 bureau, to make and keep records of the condition of the vari- 
 
 4 ons branches of the military service within their respective dis- 
 
 5 tricts, and to make monthly returns of the same to the bureau, 
 
 6 through the commandant of conscripts of the State, and in fur- 
 
 7 therance of this purpose, it shall be the duty of all officers and 
 
 8 others enployed in the service of the Confederate States, and 
 
3 
 
 9 not actually iii the field nor attached to any army in the field, in- 
 
 10 eluding quartermasters and commissaries and their agents, com - 
 
 11 manders of posts, provost marshals, officers of the ordnance, 
 
 12 nitre and mining and medical bureaux and others, to make cer- 
 
 13 tified monthly returns to the nearest conscript officer, of the 
 
 14 nature and exact condition of their service, which returns shall 
 
 15 be forwarded as above directed. 
 
 1 Sec. 6. Generals commanding the reserve forces shall be re- 
 
 '2 quired, on the demand of the commandant of conscripts for 
 
 3 the State, to place at his disposal and for the enforcement of the 
 
 4 duties imposed upon him, such detachments of the reserve forces 
 
 5 as may be deemed necessary. 
 
 1 Sec. 7. For the purpose of facilitating the granting of de- 
 
 2 tails and exemptions under the act of the 17th day of February, 
 
 3 1864, to persons who may be more useful to the country in ag- 
 
 4 ricultural and mechanical pirsuits than in the military service, 
 
 5 there shall be appointed by the President in each county, dis- 
 
 6 trict or parish, an agricultural board, consisting of three farui- 
 
 7 ers or planters over the age of fifty years, to whom shall be re 
 
 8 ferred by the county, district or parish enrolling offi :er. e. 
 
 9 application for a detail in their respective counties bi or 
 
 10 parishes ; and whose duty it shall be to enquire an 1 pep >:t up- 
 
 11 on the merits of such applisations, which vo\) >rt, with the appli- 
 
 12 cation, -hall be forwarded to the commandant of o 
 1,3 for • if lie apj 
 
 II shall be allowed, [f the commandant of conscrip 
 
 15 such application, the applicant shall have the right of app • 
 
 16 the superintendent of the bureau of conssripl 
 17 ion shall be final. 
 
; 
 
 1 Sec. S. There shall be assigned to each congreebional district 
 
 ■2. a medical board consisting of three surgeons, at least one of 
 
 3 whom shall be an army surgeon, who, after due notice of the 
 
 4 time and place of their meeting, shall, under the direction of 
 
 5 the commandant of conscripts, visit each county of the district 
 
 at least once in every two months, and shall examine for dis- 
 
 7 charge or recommendation for light duty, all conscripts who 
 
 8 may be brought before them, Every discharge granted by the 
 
 9 said medical board shall be final, and shall relieve the party so 
 
 10 discharged from all military service in the future, when the 
 
 1 1 disability is permanent and the cause of it is sei forth in the 
 
 12 certificate. 
 
 1 Sec. 9. The power to order general court martial?, assigned 
 
 2 in the 65th article of war to general officers commanding armies, 
 
 3 or colonels commanding separate departments, is he v eby ex- 
 
 4 tended to the general or field officer acting as superintendent of 
 
 5 conscription, in all cases of persons attached to the conscript 
 G service or under his orders, other than general officers. He 
 
 7 shall also have power to order courts of inquiry in like cases, 
 
 8 under the condition of the 92d article of war. The general court 
 martial hereby authorized to be ordered, shall not be composed 
 
 10 of less than three nor more than seven member*, who shall be 
 
 1 1 selected from among any officers of the invalid corps, or drill- 
 
 12 masters, or officers of the general staff or line of the army who 
 
 13 may be at the time attached to the conscript service, whether by 
 
 14 transfer or temporary assignment, including the detachments of 
 
 15 reserve forces, herein before provided for in section 6th. of this 
 
 16 act.