act. And every person so offending may be arrested and held for trial by a court-martial, and if found guilty shall be punished by fine and imprisonment, or such other punishment as the court-martial may adjudge, save the punishment of death.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That any person heretofore called or hereafter to be called into or employed in such forces or service, who shall commit any violation of this act and shall afterwards receive his discharge, or be dismissed from the service, shall, notwithstanding such discharge or dismissal, continue to be liable to be arrested and held for trial and sentence by a court-martial, in the same manner and to the same extent as if he had not received such discharge or been dismissed.

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AN ACT for enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes. Approved March 3, 1863.

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SEC. 21. And be if further enacted, That so much of the fifth section of the act approved seventeenth July, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, entitled, "An act to amend an act calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union," and so forth, as requires the approval of the President to carry into execution the sentence of a court-martial, be, and the same is hereby, repealed, as far as relates, to carrying into execution the sentence of any court-martial against any person convicted as a spy or deserter, or of mutiny or murder; and hereafter sentences in punishment of these offenses may be carried into execution into execution upon the approval of the commanding general in the field.

SEC. 22. And be if further enacted, That courts-martial shall have power to sentence officers who shall absent themselves from their commands without leave, to be reduced to the ranks to serve three years or during the war.

SEC. 23.-And be it further enacted, That the clothiers, arms, military outfits, and accouterments furnished by the United States to any soldier, shall not be sold, bartered, exchanged, pledged, loaned, or given away; and no person not a soldier, or duly authorized officer of the United States, who has possessio of any such clothes, arms, military outfits, or accouterments, furnished as aforesaid, and which have been the subject of any such sale, barter, exchange, pledge, loan, or gift, shall have any right, title, or interest therein; but the same may be seized and taken wherever found by any officer of the United States, civil or military, and shall thereupon be delivered to any quartermaster, or other officer authorized to receive the same; and the possession of any such clothes, arms, military outfits, or accouterments, by any person not a soldier or officer of the United States, shall be prima facie evidence of such a sale, barter, exchange, pledge, loan, or gift, as aforesaid.

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SEC. 27. And be if further enacted, That depositions of witnesses residing beyond the limits of the State, Territory, or district in which military courts shall be ordered to sit, may be taken in cases not capital by either party, and read in evidence; provided the same shall be taken upon reasonable notice to the opposite party, and duly authenticated.

SEC. 28. And be if further enacted, That the judge-advocate shall have power to appoint a reporter, whose duty it shall be to record the proceedings of and testimony taken before military courts instead of the judge-advocate; and such reporter may take down such proceedings and testimony in the first instance in short-hand. The reporter shall be sworn or affirmed faithfully to perform his duty before entering upon it.

SEC. 29. And be it further enacted, That the court shall, for reasonable cause, grant a continuance to either party for such time and as often as shall appear to be just; Provided, That if the prisoner be in close confinement, the trial shall to be delayed for a period longer than sixty days.

SEC. 30. And be it further enacted, That in time of war, insurrection, or rebellion, murder, assault and battery with an intent to kill manslaughter, mayhem, wounding by shooting or stabbing with an intent to commit murder, robbery, arson, burglary, rape, assault and battery with an intent to commit rape, and larceny,shall be punishable by the sentence of a general court-martial or military commission, when committed by persons who are in the military service of the United States, and subject to the articles of war; and the punishments for such offenses shall never be less than those inflicted by the laws of the State, Territory, or district in which they may have been committed.

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SEC. 38. And be it further enacted, That all persons who, in time of war of rebellion, against the supreme authority of the United States, shall be found lurking or acting as spies, in or about any of the fortifications, posts, quarters, or encampments of any of the armies of the United States, or elsewhere, shall be triable by a general court-martial or military commission, and shall, upon conviction, suffer death.