GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, Numbers 88.
New Orleans, July 11, 1864.

I. The subjoined General Orders and instructions from the headquarters Military Division of West Mississippi are republished for the information of those concerned:

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI, Numbers 17.
New Orleans, La., July 7, 1864.

The colored regiments of the Corps d'Afrique in the Department of the Gulf will be consolidated and reorganized as follows: The Seventy-third to be formed by consolidation with the Ninety-first; the Seventy-fifth to be formed by consolidation of the Seventy-ninth, Eighty-fourth, and Ninety-second; the Seventy-sixth to be formed by consolidation with the Seventy-eighth; the Seventy-seventh to be formed by consolidation of the Eighty-first, Eighty-eighth, and Eighty-ninth; the Seventy-eighth to be formed by consolidation of the Eighty-second and Eighty-third; the Eightieth to be formed by consolidation of the Ninetieth, Ninety-sixth, and Ninety-eighth; the Eighty-first to be formed by consolidation of the Eighty-seventh and Ninety-fifth; the Eighty-second to be formed by consolidation of the Ninety-seventh and Ninety-ninth. The last three regiments are constituted engineer troops.

The Seventy-third and Seventy-fifth Regiments will be organized at Morganza, the Seventy-fourth at Forts Pike and Macomb and Ship Island, the Seventy-sixth and Seventy-seventh at Port Hudson, the Seventy-eighth at Pensacola, the Seventy-ninth, Eightieth, and Eighty-second at New Orleans, and the Eighty-first at Brazos Santiago.

The regiments of the old organizations that are now absent from the point at which new regiments of which they will form part are to be organized will be concentrated at those points with as little delay as possible, and will be replaced at the stations from which they are withdrawn by colored troops not induced in the original organization of the Corps d'Afrique. All recruiting and other detached parties belonging to the above-named regiments will also be sent to the points indicated without delay.

The organization of the consolidated regiments will be the minimum prescribed by law. The officers to be retained will be determined by the reports of the examining boards appointed for that purposed and the supernumerary officers mustered out of service.

The examining may be made will not only determine the fitness of the officer for the grade for which he has been examined, but also the order of precedence in that grade. Supernumerary officers who are approved by the boards will be recommended to the Adjutant-General of the Army for appointment in regiments that are now being organized in other departments.

By order of Major General E. R. S. Canby:

C. T. CHRISTENSEN,

Major and Assistant Adjutant-General.

The following instructions are contained in letters from headquarters Military Division of West Mississippi:

The enlisted men of the Seventy-seventh Regiment, Corps d'Afrique (old organization), now stationed at Fort Jackson, will be transferred to those of the new organizations in which vacancies may exist. The officers will be examined in the same manner as the other officers of the Corps d'Afrique.

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Boards will be convened at Morganza, Port Hudson, Pensacola, Ship Island, Brazos Santiago, and New Orleans. The board to be convened at Ship Island to proceed first to Forts Pie and Macomb, for the purpose of examining the officers at those posts. * * * An inspector and a mustering officer will also be appointed at every point where boards are convened, who shall make it their special duty to see that the transfers are made with the greatest care, and that the status of the pay and clothing accounts and the general military history of the men is carefully noted on the muster-rolls and on he records of the new organizations, to prevent the possibility of any trouble in future settlement of accounts. Extra copies of the rolls will be forwarded through department headquarters to these headquarters.

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The boards of officers ordered to be convened from headquarters Department of the Gulf, for the examination of officers in regiments of colored troops, will be governed by the following rules: