GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE SOUTH, Numbers 52.
Hilton Head, Port Royal, S. C., June 25, 1863.

I. Captain Ed. W. Smith, Fifteenth U. S. Infantry, major, and assistant adjutant-general, is, by authority from the War Department, relieved from duty as commissary of musters of the South.

II. Second Lieutenant Richard Skinner, Tenth U. S. Infantry, is hereby appointed commissary of musters of the Department of the South, and will be obeyed and respected accordingly.

III. All leaves of absence of officers, and furloughs to enlisted men, granted by Major General D. Hunter, and subsequently held in abeyance by his order, are hereby revoked. All officers and enlisted men with such leaves will immediately rejoin their regiments.

IV. Medical Inspector Augustus C. Hamlin, U. S. Army, having been assigned to duty in this department, is hereby announced as medical inspector of the Department of the South, and will be respected and obeyed accordingly.

By order of Brigadier General Q. A. Gillmore:

ISRAEL R. SEALY,

First Lieutenant Forty-seventh New York Vols., A. A. A. G.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
Hilton Head, S. C. June 26, 1863.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

Hilton Head, S. C., June 26, 1863.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief, U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.:

SIR: The condition of affairs on James and Morris Islands, has not materially changed since my last report. Four deserters from Morris and 8 from James Island put me in possession of important information. I see nothing in their report to produce discouragement. Admiral DuPont will cordially co-operate with me, and in less than one week I hope to be in possession of a part or the whole of Morris Island. My batteries on Folly Island should be completed in three or four days. General Seymour, whom I left in New York to complete the shipment of certain stores, has not arrived yet, for some reason to me unknown.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Q. A. GILLMORE,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPT. OF THE SOUTH, Numbers 53.
Hilton Head, Port Royal, S. C., June 29, 1863.

I. Captain W. L. M. Burger is announced as assistant adjutant-general on the staff of the brigadier-general commanding, and will be obeyed and respected accordingly.

II. A misconception with regard to the true meaning of the term "desert" seems to exist in the minds of many of the officers and enlisted men of this command. To desert means to quit or abandon the post or command of the individual, and there is no authority requiring the animus with which the party left to be established, nor does the fact that he may afterward voluntarily return acquit him of the crime. The highest military authority declares that officers and enlisted men, absent from their command without proper authority, are in fact deserters, and not only forfeit all pay and allow-