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GENERAL ORDERS, )          WAR DEPARTMENT,
                   V              Adjutant General's Office,
      No- 78,      >                     Washington, July 14, 1862.
  I.. The many evils which arise  from giving furloughs to enlisted
men, require that the practice shall be  discontinued.   Hospitals, pro-
vided with ample medical attendance, nurses, food, and clothing, are
established  by the  Government, at great expense, not only near the
scenes of active military operations, but in many of the Northern States.
When it is expedient  and advisable, sick and wounded patients may,
under the direction of the Surgeon General, he transferred in parties,
but not in individual cases, to hospitals at the North; and, as far as
practicable, the  men will be sent  to States in which  their  regiments
were  raised, provided United  States hospitals have been established
there.   Such regulations will be  adopted at  all  the hospitals as will
permit relatives and  friends to visit the patients, and furnish  them
with comforts, at such hours and in such manner as will not interfere
with  the discipline of the hospitals and the welfare  of the mass of
patients.  The men will thus be under the fostering care of the Govern-
ment while unfit for duty; will be in position to be promptly discharged
if proper, and, being  always under military control, will be returned
to their regiments  as soon as they are able to  resume their duties.
The unauthorized removal of soldiers  from  under the control of the
United  States authorities, by any agents whatever, subjects them to
loss of pay and other penalties of desertion.

   II. .At large camps, depots, or posts, where absentees arrive en route
to their companies, the commanding officers will immediately set apart
a particular place where the men may be quartered, in buildings, tents,
or huts, as  soon as  they arrive, and may, without delay, receive food
and clothing.   Parties  will be detailed to  await at  landing places
the arrival of such soldiers, and to  direct them to their quarters   They
will he  assigned immediately to temporary companies, composed as far
as possible of men from the same regiments or brigades; and each of
these companies will be forwarded in a body to the command to which
they belong, according  to the  directions contained in paragraph I of
"General Orders," No. 12. 
2
  III..Chaplains appointed by the President  for hospitals, will be
assigned by the Surgeon General to hospitals in the cities for which
they were appointed.  Should  the breaking up of a hospital leave a
chaplain supernumerary in any city, the  fact will be immediately
reported  to the Adjutant General.   Chaplains  will be subordinate to
the hospital surgeons.  Leaves of absence will be granted them by the
Surgeon  General when approved by the Surgeons in charge of their
hospitals.

  BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY  OF WAR:
                                          L. THOMAS,
                                              Adjutant General.
  Official :



               ^"rfssistant Adjutant Uemfral.