3. Property lawfully condemned will be disposed of as provided in regulations and orders, by turning over to the proper staff departments such as can be used for the army, and no property will be allowed to be sold at auction by direction of provost-marshals, unless the record is examined and approved and the sale ordered by some general officer in command of a district. All sales so made will at once be reported to the provost-marshal-general and these headquarters and the proceeds properly accounted for.

4. The acceptance of money or any other valuable thing by officers or employes in connection with their public duties is strictly forbidden. If accepted for performance of a lawful duty it is extortion: if for performance of an unlawful act or omission of a known duty it is bribery; and in either case will be severely punished, and all officers and soldiers are commanded, and citizens requested, to forward information of such wrongful acts to these headquarters.

5. Officers of the inspector-general's department are required to visit all prisons within their limits once in ten days, and to make a tri-monthly report of the condition of each, of the official conduct of the keepers, of its sanitary state, and generally to observe and report upon all irregularities. They will verify the lists of prisoners, examine the date of committals and time of sentence, and report promptly all persons unreasonably detained and all who are detained after expiration of sentence. Humanity and good faith require close inspection on all these points. Special attention will be paid to cleanliness and to the character and quality of the provisions furnished.

6. The most rigid accountability must be enforced throughout this department of the public service, in which the temptations to illegal gain are so large, and superior officers will be held to strict supervision of their inferiors.

By command of Major-General Hurlbut:

GEORGE B. DRAKE,

Major and Assistant Adjutant-General.

HDQRS. DISTRICT OF BATON ROUGE AND PORT HUDSON,
Baton Rouge, La., October 5, 1864.

Major GEORGE B. DRAKE,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Department of the Gulf:

MAJOR: I have received a letter from one W. R. Hodges and which was referred from your office September 27, relative to depredations committed by jayhawkers it the parish of Ascension, and also containing a request for a detachment of soldiers to protect the planters. Other letters of a similar character have before been received and after investigation I find that there is no force of the enemy below here on the line of the river, but that the lawless acts complained of are committed by parties of not more than two or three men, who, by reporting others near at hand, get up a scare. I am convinced that the planters can easily protect themselves and rid the country of their presence. I have granted permission to applicants in certain localities and of undoubted loyalty to keep arms for defense. I would not recommend that the troops be diverted from their more important duties by being placed on guard over private property in such cases as this.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

F. J. HERRON,

Major-General, Commanding.