his company commander or the officer under whose immediate care he may be at the time of his discharge.

In the case of a dishonorable discharge, the papers will state the facts of the case, in order that the paymaster may have no difficulty in properly adjusting the accounts of the discharged soldier.

III.

Certificates of disability will be made out in duplicate by the soldier's company commander, or other officer commanding the separate detachment to which he belongs, and sent by him to the surgeon who has charge of the hospital where the soldier is sick. The surgeon will then fill out and sign the surgeon's certificate, and forward these papers to the regimental, detachment, or post commander, who will forward them, with his action indorsed thereon, through the proper channel, to the division commander, or, if the troops are not attached to a division, to his corps, department, or other commander or officer to whom the authority to discharge enlisted men may be specially delegated. These certificates, after having received the action of the highest authority to which they are required to be sent, will be returned through the same channel to the regimental, post, or detachment commander, who will, if the discharge is authorized by the indorsement of the proper authority, sign the soldier's discharge and the last certificate on this paper; see that the soldier is furnished with the proper final statements in duplicate, and forward both of these certificates direct to the Adjutant-General U. S. Army, Washington, D. C. They will not, under any circumstances, be given into the hands of the soldier, or to any person in his behalf.-Extracts from instructions from the Adjutant-General's Office upon this subject.

When certificates of disability in the case of a volunteer are forwarded to the commander having authority to grant his discharge, they will be accompanied by the blank referred to in Paragraph 165, Revised Regulations, on which the discharge from service is finally made; and the said commander will indorse thereon the same orders that the gives upon the certificate of disability.-Extract from General Orders, Numbers 83, War Department, 1861.

IV. All the Blanks required for discharges are now furnished by the Government in profusion, and there can be no excuse for sending a discharged soldier away from this army without the papers he needs to secure a speedy adjustment of his accounts. Any officer, therefore, who shall hereafter fail in his respect, will be deemed guilty of a grave misdemeanor, and brought to trial before a general court-martial for neglect of an important obligation, and it is recommended to courts-martial in such cases to impose sentences of unusual severity.

V. It is made the duty of all officers and soldiers whose province it may be to examine the passes of persons leaving this army, to carefully scrutinize the papers of discharged soldiers, and in case any such discharged soldier is without the papers he should have, or has those he should not have, he will be sent, with the papers given him, to the commander of the corps, or other independent command to which he belonged, who will see that the proper papers are furnished, and promptly arrest and bring to trial the officer responsible for the nonobservance of the regulations governing the case.

VI. The following extract from General Orders, N. 86, of July 23, 1862, from the War Department, relating to the reissue of discharge papers, is published for the guidance of all concerned:

The giving in duplicate, by any officer of the army, of certificates of discharge or final statements, is peremptorily forbidden (see Paragraph 165, of Revised Regulations). Not even if such papers are lost or destroyed is any officer of the army authorized to replace them.

General Orders, Numbers 86, of 1862, and Numbers 30, of 1863, from the War Department, point out the course to be pursued in cases where certificates of discharge or final statements are lost or destroyed.

VII. The following extract from General Orders, Numbers 98, of Novem-