BUREAU OF CONSCRIPTION, WAR DEPARTMENT,

Richmond, Va., December 15, 1864.

Hon. JAMES A. SEDDON,

Secretary of War:

SIR: In confirmation of a statement I made to you this morning, I have the honor to submit the inclosed abstract from the monthly reports of the commandant of conscripts for the State of Virginia.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JNO. S. PRESTON,

Brigadier-General and Superintendent.

[Inclosure.]

Abstract from the monthly reports of the commandant of conscripts for the State of Virginia.

BUREAU OF CONSCRIPTION, WAR DEPARTMENT,

Richmond, Va., December 15, 1864.

Deserters and absentees without leave arrested and returned to the Army in the State of Virginia; May, 287; June, 350; July, 344; August, 629; September, 358; October, 266.

CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, WAR DEPARTMENT,

Richmond, Va., December 16, 1864.

The PRESIDENT:

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the following extract of a resolution of the House of Representatives, adopted on the 23d ultimo, being so much as relates to the War Department, viz:

Resolved, That the President be requested to cause to be communicated to this House as far as is practicable * * * also the number of civil and military officers on duty in the War Department in the city of Richmond, and at the hospitals and camps in its immediate vicinity; their rank, ages, and from what State they entered the service or were appointed; the number of bureaus there are now int he War Department in Richmond, the particular acts of Congress under which they were created, and the rank and number of officers composing them, their general power and duties as authorized by law; distinguishing disabled and detailed officers from privates and citizens, and the number employed in each bureau.

The annexed tabular statements furnish most of the information desired by the House of Representatives. * In addition it is proper, in order to a full repsonse, to give a general statement of the organization of this Department:

I. The bureaus of the War Department established by law are:

First. The officers of the heads of the general's staff of the Army, viz:

1. The Adjutant and Inspector General's Department.

2. The Quartermaster-General's Department.

3. The Subsistence Department.

4. The Medical Department. These are organized respectively under the second, third, fourth, and fifth sections of the act "For the establishment and organization of a general staff of the Army of the Confederate States," approved February 26, 1861.

Second. The offices of the chiefs of special service, viz:

1. The Chief of Ordnance. The Bureau of Ordnance is organized under the forty-fourth article of the Regulations of the Army. It has

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*Statements not found.

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