the medical directors, either by general instructions or specially by telegraph, to what points they shall be sent. Officers whose duty it may become to forward such detachments will take care that no men, except those provided with written passes from their hospital surgeon or the medical director, shall be allowed to go.

Furloughs will not be given by catains of companies or colonels of regiments on any pretext whatever. A furlough from such authority will not relieve a soldier from the charge of desertion.

Enlisted men absent from their regiments without proper authority are in fact deserters, and not only forfeit all pay and allowances, but are subject to the penalties awarded by law to such offenders. No plea of sickness or other cause not officially established, and no certificate of a physician in civil life, unless it be approved by some officer acting as a military commander, will hereafter avail to remove the charge of desertion or procure arrears of pay when a soldier has been mustered as absent from his regiment without leave.

By application to the Governors of their States, or to any military commander or U. S. mustering officer in a city, transportation can be procured to their regiments by soldiers who are otherwise able to join them.

Where no military commander has been appointed, the senior officer of the Army on duty as mustering or recruiting officer in the place is hereby authorized and required to act in that capacity until another may be appointed.

Under General Orders, Numbers 36, it is the duty of military commanders to collect all stragglers and forward them to their regiments. To do this they must establish camps or depots, under strict military discipline, and maintain sufficient guards to enforce this order. Convalescents in army hospitals will be reported by the surgeons in charge to the military commanders, to be kept at their camps or depots until they can be sent to join their regiments. Muste-rolls of each detachment will be made out from the best date at hand, the statement of the men being taken in the absence of other information concerning them. A duplicate of each muster-roll must be forwarded to the Adjutant-General the day the detachment starts.

To avoid confusion and retain necessary control over all soldiers in the U. S. service, those who are entertained in State or private hospitals must be subject to the nearest military commander, and are hereby required to report to him in person as soon as they become convalescent.

Immediately after receipt of this order each military commander will publish three in some newspaper a brief notice requiring all U. S. soldiers in that city and the country around ho are not under treatment in a U. S. hospital to report themselves to him without delay, on penalty of being considered deserters. in cases of serious disability from wounds or sickness, which may prevent obedience to this requirement, the soldier must furnish a certificate of a physician of good standing, describing his case, on which, if satisfactory, the military commander may grant a written furlough for not exceeding thirty days, or a discharge on the prescribed form of a certificate of disability, made out strictly according to the regulations. But no discharges will be given on account of rheumatism, or where there is a prospect of recovery within a reasonable time.

Military commanders may discharge men, at their own request, who exhibit to them satisfactory proof of their being paroled prisoners of war. To other paroled men they will given furloughs until notified of their exchange or discharged the service.