HEAD QUARTERS, WESTERN DEPARTMENT* 
Corinth, Miss., May 6th, 1862. 
CiliNliKAli OBBEKS, 
No. 3S- V 
The Commander of the Forces has found', with profound 
grot, that sick certificates and furloughs are procured with too- 
great facility by the undeserving; and to such extent has this 
reached, that the General must invoke the assistance of all good 
officers to suppress it. To this end the following orders and regu- 
lations are announced : 
I. Surgeon li. M. Wible and Acting Snr gen C. W. Taliaferro 
are appointed additional, or assistant Medical Inspectors. These 
officers will examine the certificates of all officers and men leaving 
by any train, and will order back to their regiment or station all 
who do not have furloughs given in strict conformity to General- 
Orders No. 26r from-these Head Quarters, dated April 27,1862; 
also, any one having, a sick leave or furlough granted, apparently, 
without sufficient reasons. And at the same time they will report to 
the Adjutant General of the Forces, the name, company, and regi- 
iment, of any person ordered back to his regiment; and, when 
practicable, the name of the Medical Officer, on whose certificate 
the undeserved or irregular leave was granted. 
11. In eases where the sick leave or furlough appears to have 
been granted on insufficient grounds, the case shall at once be 
brought before a Hoard, composed of Surgeons Yandall and Chop pi n, 
unless otherwise specially ordered, and a thorough investigation will 
be made as to the conduct of the Medical Officer giving the certifi- 
OtitC • 
111. These Assistant Inspectors will also make frequent in- 
spections of the cars of the sick trains ; they will see that they are 
clean, properly provided with fresh water,and with properly cooked 
rations for the sick while en route for the hospitals. 
IV. In the performance of their duties, the Assistant Medi- 
cal Inspectors will be expected to proceed frequently on the cars, as 
far as necessary for the examinations prescribed ; but will return so 
as to be on duty at the Depot at the usual hour for the departure of 
the passenger trains. 
V. All men reported by the regimental Surgeons as proper 
subjects for the General Hospitals, will be inspected by the Senior 
Surgens of their brigades, who will order back to their regiments 
all cases that can be treated in camp, or that should be restored fit 
for duty in eight or ten days. A list of all patients sent to the 
General Hospitals will be furnished by the Senior Surgeons of bri- 
gades to the Chief Surgeons of their divisions, for their cxain'uiH- 
*i«n and approval. VI. Regimental Commanders will invariably send descript- 
ive rolls with all men , sent to General Hospitals, which rolls shall 
unbrace an account of their pay, clothing, and other allowances* 
dso, any stoppages to bo made on account of the Government; as 
well as such other facts as may be necessary to show their character 
ind military history. 
VII. Surgeons in charge of General Hospitals, in all incura- 
ble cases, or cases likely to prove of long continuance, whether from 
wounds or other disability, will promptly make out and forward to 
Commanding officer of the Regiment, or Battalion to which invalid 
belongs, a certificate (in duplicate) of disability, to be submitted 
for reference and action of the Brigade Commander, as prescribed 
in the following paragraph ; 
VIII. Whenever a non-commissioned officer or soldier shall 
be unfit for military service in consequence of wounds, disease, 
infirmity, his Captain shall forward, through the Commander of the 
Regiment or Battalion, to- the Brigade Commander, or other officer 
next higher in rank to the Commander of the Regiment or Bat- 
talion, a statement of the ease, with a “ certificate of disability,” 
signed by the medical officer having charge of the invalid, with a 
recommendation for a discharge or furlough, as the ease may require; 
and if the recommendation be approved, the authority for discharge 
or furlough shall be endorsed on the “ certificate of disability,” 
which shall then be returned to the Commanding officer of the Reg- 
iment or Battalion, who will cause the proper papers to be made 
out—final statements and discharges in the first case, furloughs 
and descriptive rolls in the second. The certificate of disability, 
properly endorsed in ease of discharge, will be forwarded by Com- 
manding officer to Adjutant and Inspector General of the Army at 
Richmond. 
IX. No soldiers going to a General Hospital, or on sick leave 
or furlough, will be permitted to take with them guns, canteens, 
haversacks or other accoutrements, all of which will bc|turned in to 
the company commander. Any one who attempts to disobey or 
evade this regulation will be at once arrested and deprived of his 
furlough, or otherwise punished. 
command of Gk.n. Bkai iiiouard. 
THOMAS JORDAN, 
Chief of Staff, 
OFFK'IA I<