be regarded as sufficiently well assured. But taking the oath and giving bond will not be regarded as furnishing an indemnity for past offenses, and overt acts, such as taking up arms against the Government or engaging in the military service of the enemy, although previously committed, may nevertheless be inquired into and punished, except where, upon fair investigation, the party has been once discharged by the major-general commanding this army, or by superior authority.

II. Captured soldiers of the rebel army, and persons other than officers in the military service of the so-called Government of the Confederate States, will, if they are not deserters from our own service, and do not from their conduct or the circumstances of their capture deserve the treatment of spies, be treated as prisoners of war and forwarded to Vicksburg, Miss., for exchange. To such persons it will not be proper to administer the oath of allegiance. They will be trated as prisoners of war, and, where they have taken such oath, will, if in custody of a proper officer, be released from its obligations; provided the case has not been passed upon by authority superior to that of the major-general commanding this army. Captured officers of the rebel army will, however, be kept in confinement, and neither paroled nor forwarded for exchange, until further orders.

III. Officers and soldiers discharged from the rebel service and those whose term of enlistment has expired will be arrested unless they have been once set at liberty upon the charge by authority of the general commanding this army or some superior officer, and will be kept in custody until a report in each case has been made to these headquarters and action taken thereon. In these cases the oath of allegiance will not be administered unless orders to that effect are received; but if such oath has already been taken, the fact will be stated in the report.

IV. As to deserters from the rebel service, and others named in General Orders, Numbers 36, from these headquarters, a plain rule of action has been furnished. They will report here. That order, however, applies only to such cases as had not been, when it was issued, already passed upon and disposed of.

V. Where the bond for the observance of an oath of allegiance is not a sufficient security, the oath will be readministered, and a new bond taken in a sufficient amount and with sufficient sureties. VI. Provost-marshals and officers acting in that capacity, within the limits of this command, will report at once to these headquarters the names of all persons now in their custody, with the charges against them. This report will also include a list of the cases disposed of since November 17, A. D. 1862, with a statement of the disposition made in each case.

VIII. Semi-monthly reports will be hereafter required from provost-marshals and those acting as such upon the first and fifteenth days of every month. Such reports will be arranged in tabular form, containing, first, the names of prisoners; second, their rank, company, and regiment, if in military service; third, the time and place of their capture; and fourth, the disposition made in the several cases, with the date of such disposition. In all cases where prisoners are forwarded for exchange, or sent under custody beyond the limits of the State, reports similarly arranged will be at once forwarded to these headquarters.

By order of Major General G. Granger:

WM. C. RUSSELL,

Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General.

[20.]

21 R R - VOL LII, PT I