GENERAL ORDERS. GENERAL ORDER, No. 1. STATE OF INDIANA, GENERAL COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE, 1. The time for the completion of the enrollment lists by the Commissioners, and of the meeting of the Board to determine exemptions from draft, is hereby extended to the 1st day of September next. 2. The time for making the draft is postponed to the 15th of September, at which time it will be made as heretofore ordered. 3. Notices of the meeting of the Board must be given by the Commissioners in the manner previously ordered. 4. The Constitution of our State provides that "no person conscientiously opposed to bearing arms shall be compelled to do militia duty; but such person shall pay an equivalent for exemption." In pursuance of this provision, all members in good standing, of any religious denomination, who make opposition to bearing arms an article of faith, are exempt from militia duty, upon the payment of such sum as shall be hereafter fixed. GENERAL ORDER, No. 3. STATE OF INDIANA, GENERAL COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE, As the Constitution provides that "no person conscientiously opposed to bearing arms shall be compelled to do militia duty," and further provides that "such person shall pay an equivalent for exemption," the following regulations are adopted to carry out said provisions: 1. The Board to determine exemption shall treat sue persons as exempt, and shall enter upon the enrollment list the cause of exemption. 2. In determining who are embraced within the provision referred to, the fact that a person is a member, in good standing, of any religious denomination who make opposition to bearing arms an article of faith, may be regarded as prima facie evidence of being entitled to such exemption, but this is not to be conclusive; other evidence is admissible in such cases, as well as in those where persons are not members of such denominations. The Board is enjoined to look carefully into all such claims, and see that the exemption is not extended beyond what is contemplated by the Constitution. 3. At the time fixed for making the draft, ballots containing the names of all persons exempted by the Board, under the provisions above cited, shall be placed in a separate box, and ballots shall be drawn therefrom in the manner provided in section 5, of General Orders, No. 73. The names of residents of each township shall be placed in the box and drawn from separately, as in other cases. The number or ratio to be drawn in each township will be furnished. The persons so drawn shall each pay to the Marshal a sum to be hereafter fixed, as an equivalent for such exemption, and on failure to pay said sum, the Marshal shall distrain and levy upon and sell the property and effects of such delinquent, in the manner provided for sales upon executions at law, but without regard to appraisement or exemption laws. By order of O. P. MORTON, Governor. J. P. SIDDALL, General Commissioner. STATE OF INDIANA, Indianapolis, August 26, 1862. To secure throughout the State some uniformity in the inspection of drafted men, who apply for certificates of exemption, it will be understood that while much is left, necessarily, to the good judgment of the Examining Surgeon, slight defects, which might be sufficient for the rejection of recruits for a long period of time, shall not exempt from draft. Able-bodied, effective men, such as would honestly be accepted as volunteers, after a careful inspection, shall not be exempt on account of immaterial defects. As hints of what shall not exempt, the following are given: 1. Loss or imperfect vision of left eye. 2. Partial loss of front teeth. 3. Slight or infrequent attacks of hemorrhoids. 4. Slight deformities of limbs, with unimpaired motion. 5. Loss of last joint of one or two fingers of left hand, or of one finger of the right hand, other than the forefinger. 6. Slight varicose veins, below the knee, or slight varicocele. The following are causes for exemption: 1. Loss or imperfect vision of right eye. 2. Loss of all the front teeth, and enough of the molars to render mastication imperfect. 3. Large or frequent attacks of hemorrhoids, or chronic diarrhea. 4. Deformities which impair free motion of limbs. 5. Loss of more than one finger of right, or more than two fingers of left hand. 6. Large varicose veins above the knee. 6. Large or irreducible hernia. Cases of reducible hernia are left to the sound discretion of the Surgeon, under the general principles herein stated. 8. All organic or functional diseases causing marked debilityheart diseases, epilepsy, or organic disease of lungs—will be causes of exemption. It is believed that general principles of the above character should be the guides for Examining Surgeons, the aim being to secure effective men, and, at the same time, not to excuse those fitted for the service, on trivial or insufficient grounds. By order of the GOVERNOR. J. P. SIDDALL, GENERAL ORDER, No. 4. STATE OF INDIANA, GENERAL COMMISSIONER'S OFFICE, Indianapolis, August 28, 1862. 1. Every white male, of foreign birth, of the age of twenty-one years and up to forty-five years, who shall have resided in the United States one year, and shall have resided in this State six months immediately previous to enrollment, and shall have declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, conformably to the laws of the United States on the subject of naturalization. should be enrolled by the Commissioners. 2. All persons of foreign birth, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, who have exercised the right of suffrage in this State, should be enrolled. The time for drafting was fixed, in a previous order, for the 15th instant. At the time that order was issued, it was not doubted that all necessary arrangements for the draft would be completed before the time mentioned. It is now ascertained that the time required for the Enrolling Commissioners of the several counties to perform their labors, was under-estimated. The townships in the State number over one thousand, and the quota of each is to be assigned here, but nothing could be done toward making the necessary computations until returns from the Commissioners were all received. The returns are now all in, and the quotas of the several townships in each county will be forwarded to the Enrolling Commissioners of the several counties before the close of the present week, if pos sible. Each township will thus be enabled to ascertain its deficiency, and if that is supplied by volunteers before the day fixed for the draft, then no draft will be made in that township; and if the deficiency is only partly supplied by volunteers, then the draft will only be made for the residue. The name, residence, and number of the regiment of each volunteer, should be promptly reported to the Enrolling Commissioner for his county, who is directed to keep a list of such volunteers, embracing all those who have enlisted from each township in his county, since his report to this office, and up to the day fixed for the draft. According to data furnished by the General Government, the number to be yet supplied by Indiana, to relieve her from a draft, is about six thousand. This number, when distributed among the townships of the ninety-two counties in the State, may be readily raised by volunteers, and the draft wholly avoided. Indiana has in the field and in camp over ninety thousand volunteers, and after having thus liberally and promptly responded to the calls made upon her by the General Government, it is confidently believed that no resort to a draft will be necessary to raise the small number yet required to fill the complement. Let each township immediately devote a few days earnestly to the work of raising volunteers, and the desired result will be attained. To facilitate such efforts, volunteers will be received for twelve months, instead of three years as heretofore. The draft will take place on the 6th of October next, in every township in which any deficiency exists at that time. Commissioners are enjoined to give prompt notice of this order, and also of the quota, when furnished, in each township in their respective counties. The lists of volunteers required to be kept by the Commissioners under this order, will be forwarded to this office when completed, so that the original enrollment lists returned here. may be corrected, and thus be ready for use in case of any future call by the Government. In addition to the six thousand volunteers required to avoid a draft, six thousand more volunteers, for twelve months, will be accepted from the State at large. Passes to leave the State are no longer required, and none will hereafter be issued. By order of the GOVERNOR. J. P. SIDDALL, General Commissioner. |