Adjutant and Inspector General’s Office, 
Richmond, April 6, 18G3. 
GENERAL ORDERS, \ 
No. 37. $ 
I. The following Act of Congress, ooncerning “ impressments,” and 
the instructions of the War Department respecting it, are published for 
the information and direction of all concerned: 
“Whenever the exigencies of any army in the field are such as to 
make impressments of forage, articles of subsistence or other property ab- 
solutely necessary, then such impressments .may be made by the officer or 
officers whose duty it is to furnish such forage, articles of subsistence or 
other property for such army. In cases where the owner of such pro- 
perty and the impressing officer cannot agree upon the value thereof, it 
shall be the dutyof such impressing officer, upon an affidavit in writing 
of the owner of such property, or his agent, that such property was 
grown, raised or produced by said owner, or is held or has been pur- 
chased by him, not for sale or speculation, but for his own use or con- 
sumption, to cause the same to be ascertained and determined by the 
judgment of two loyal and disinterested citizens of the city, county or 
parish in which such impressments may be made—one to be selected by 
the owner; one by the impressing officer; and in the event of their dis- 
agreement, these two shall choose an umpire of like qualifications, whose 
decision shall be final. The persons thus selected, after taking an oath 
to appraise the property impressed fairly and impartially (which oath, as 
well as the affidavit provided for in this section, the impressing officer is 
hereby authorized to administer and certify), shall proceed to assess just 
compensation for the property so impressed, whether the absolute owner- 
ship or the temporary use thereof only is required. 
“ Sec. 2. That the officer or person impressing property as aforesaid, 
, shall, at the time of said taking, pay to the owner, his agent or attorney, 
the compensation fixed by said appraisers; and shall also give to the 
owner, or person controlling said property, a certificate, over his official 
signature, specifying the battalion, regiment, brigade,'division or corps 
to which he belongs, that said property is essential for'the use of the 
army, could not be otherwise procured, and was taken through absolute 
necessity; setting forth the time and place when and where taken, the 
amount of compensation fixed by said appraisers, and the sum, if any, paid for the same. Said certificate shall be evidence for the owner, as 
well of the taking of said property for the public use, as the right of the 
owner to the amount of compensation fixed as aforesaid. And in case 
said officer or person taking said property shall have failed to pay the 
owner or his agent said compensation as herein before required, then said 
owner shall be entitled to the speedy payment of the same by the proper 
disbursing officer; which, when so paid, shall be in full satisfaction of 
all claim against the government of the Confederate States. 
“ Sec. 3. Whenever the appraisement provided for in the first section 
of this act shall, for any reason, be impracticable at the time of said im- 
pressment, then and in that case the value of the property impressed shall 
be assessed as soon as possible by two loyal and disinterested citizens of 
the city, county or parish, wherein the property was taken, chosen as fol- 
lows ; One by the owner, and one by the-Commissary or Quartermaster 
General, or his agent, who, in case of disagreement, shall choose a third 
citizen of like qualifications as an umpire, to decide the matters in dispute,, 
who shall he sworn as aforesaid, who shall hear the proofs adduced by 
the parties as to the value of said property, and assess a just compensa- 
tion therefor, according to the testimony. 
“Sec. 4. That whenever the Secretary of War shall be of opinion that 
it is necessary to take private property for public use, by reason of the 
impracticability of procuring the same by purchase, so as to accumulate 
necessary supplies for the army, or the good of the service, in any loca- 
lity, he may, by general order, through the proper subordinate officers, 
authorize such property to be taken for the public use; the compensa- 
tion due the owner for the same to be determined and the value fixed as 
provided for in the first and second sections of this act. 
“ Sec. 5. That it shall be the duty of the President, as early as practi- 
cable after the passage of tins act, to appoint a commissioner in each state 
where property shall bo taken for the public use, and request the Governor 
of sucli of the states in which the President shall appoint said commis- 
sioner, to appoint another commissioner, to act in conjunction with the 
commissioner appointed by the President, who shall receive the compen- 
sation of’eight dollars per day, and ten cents per mile as mileage, to be 
paid by the confederate government. Said commissioners shall consti- 
tute a hoard, whose duty it shall be to fix upon the prices to be' paid by 
the government for all property impressed or taken for the public use 
as aforesaid, so as to afford just compensation to the owners thereof. Said 
commissioners shall agree upon and publish a schedule of prices every two moniJis, or oftcncr if they shall deem it proper; and in the event' they 
shall not he able to agree in any matter confided to them in this act, they 
shall have power to appoint an umpire to decide the matter, in dispute, 
whose decision shall he the decision of the board; and said umpire shall 
receive the same rate of compensation for the time he shall .serve, allowed 
to said commissioners respectively: Provided, that said commissioners 
shall be residents of the state for which they shall be appointed; and if 
the Governor of any state shall refuse or neglect to appoint said commis- 
sioner within ten days after a request to do so by the President, then the 
President shall appoint both commissioners, by and with the advice and 
consent of the seriate. 
“ Sec. 6. That all property impressed or taken for the public use, as 
aforesaid, in the hands of any person other than the persons who have 
raised, grown or produced the same, or persons holding the same for their 
own use or consumption, and who shall make the affidavit as herein be- 
fore required, shall he paid for according to the schedule of prices fixed 
by the commissioners as aforesaid. But if the officer impressing or taking 
for the public use such property, and the owner, shall differ as to the 
quality of the article or property impressed or taken as aforesaid, thereby 
making it fall within a higher or lower price named in the schedule, then 
the owner or agent and the officer impressing or taking, as aforesaid, 
may select each a loyal- and disinterested citizen, of the qualifications as 
aforesaid, to determine the quality of said article or property, who shall, 
in case of disagreement, a](point an umpire of like qualifications, and 
his decision, if approved by the officer impressing, shall be final; but if 
not approved, the impressing officer shall send the award to the commis- 
sioners of the state where the property is impressed, with his reasons for 
disapproving the same, and said commissioners may hear such proofs 
as the parties may respectively adduce, and their decision shall be final: 
Provided, that the owner may receive the price offered by the impressing 
officer, without prejudice to his claim to receive the higher compensation. 
“ Sec. 7. That the property necessary for the support of the owner and 
his family, and to carry on his ordinary agricultural and mechanical bu- 
siness, to be ascertained by the appraisers, to be appointed as provided in 
tne urst section of ibis act, under oath, shad not be taken or impressed 
for the public use; and when the impressing officer and- the owner can- 
not agree as to the quantity of property necessary as aforesaid, then the 
decision of the said appraisers shall he binding on the officer and all otber 
peisons. “ Sec. 8. Where property has been impressed for temporary use, and is 
lost or destroyed, without the default of the owner, the government of 
the Confederate States shall pay a just compensation therefor; to be as- 
certained by appraisers appointed and qualified as provided in the first 
section of this act. If.such property when returned has, in the opinion 
of the owner, been injured whilst in the public use, the amount of da- 
mage thereby sustained shall be determined in the manner described in 
the third section of this act, the officer returning the property being au- 
thorized to act on behalf of the government; and upon such enquiry, the 
certificate of the value of the property, when originally impressed, shall 
bo received as prima facie evidence of the value thereof. 
“ Sec. 9. Where slaves are impressed by the confederate government to 
labor on fortifications or other''public works; the impressment shall be 
made by said government according to the rules and regulations provided 
in the laws of the state wherein they are impressed; and in the absence 
of such law, in accordance with such rules and regulations not inconsis- 
tent with the provisions of this act, as the Secretary of War shall from 
time to time prescribe: Provided, that no impressment of slaves shall be 
made when they can be hired or procured by the cpnsent of the owner or 
agent. 
“ Sec. 10. That previous to the first day of December next, no slave la- 
boring on a farm or plantation exclusively devoted to the production of 
grain and provisions, shall be taken for the public use, without the con- 
sent of the owner, except in case of urgent necessity. 
“ Sec. 11. That any commissioned or non-commissioned officer or pri- 
vate who shall violate the provisions of this act, shall be tried before the 
military court of the corps to which he is attached, on complaint made 
by the owner or other person; and on conviction, if an officer, he shall 
be cashiered and put into the ranks as a private ; and if a non-commis- 
sioned officer or private, he shall suffer such punishment, not inconsistent 
with military law, as the court may direct.” 
IT.—l. By the authority of the act of congress aforesaid, the Secretary 
of War hereby recognizes impressment as a legal and operative mode of 
securing necessary supplies of subsistence, medical and quartermaster’s 
stores for the armies of the Confederate States in the field, and to accu- 
mulate them in magazines, posts and depots, owing to the impracticability 
of procuring them by contract. 
2. Impressments may be made under orders from Generals command- 
ing atmies, departments, corps, divisions, brigades, and by commanders of detached parties and posts, when a necessity arises; which orders may 
be executed by quartermasters, commissaries or medical purveyors and 
their subordinates, for their respective departments. 
The Quartermaster General, Commissary General and Surgeon General 
may designate the officers and persons who shall be competent to make 
impressments to accumulate supplies at posts and depots. 
3, No officer or agent, shall impress the necessary supplies which any 
person may have for the consumption of himself, his family, employees, 
slaves, or to carry on his ordinary mechanical, manufacturing or agricul- 
tural employments. 
4. Before any impressment of property shall take' place, the impress- 
ing officer or his agent shall make an offer, addressed to the owner, his 
bailee or other agent, to purchase the property, describing the property 
he wishes to purchase, the price to be paid, and the 'mode of payment, 
whether in money, or by certificate, and stating that upon the refusal of 
the price offered, that compensation for the property will he made ac- 
cording to the act of congress aforesaid, for the regulation of impress- 
ments ; which notice shall bind the said property until the completion .of 
the negotiation for the sale or appropriation thereof, so that there can be 
no removal or transfer of the same. 
5. In the event of the refusal of the price offered, the impressing offi- 
cer shall proceed to settle the compensation to be paid, according to the 
first section of the act aforesaid, if the .property belongs to a person who 
has grown, raised, or produced the same, or who holds or has purchased 
the same for his own use or consumption; but the said property shall be 
paid for according to the sth section of the act aforesaid, if the property 
is held for sale or otherpurposes than those before mentioned. 
6. That the property shall remain in the possession of the owner, his 
bailee or agent, and at bis risk, during the pendency of the proceedings 
for the ascertainment of the compensation, unless it shall he otherwise 
agreed to, or unless some urgent necessity shall require the possession of 
the property to be changed. In case of a change of possession, the Con- 
federate States shall he regarded as the owner, and the property shall he 
held for their account and risk.. 
7. The impressing officer shalk at the date of the impressment, pay to 
the owner, his agent or attorney in fact, the compensation agreed upon, 
if it be practicable; but if he cannot do so, he shall give a certificate, ac- 
cording to the second section of the act aforesaid; which shall be paid 
upon presentation to the disbursing officers, who shall be designated for 
that purpose. 
8. Impressments, which shall be made before the appointment of the commissioners designated in the sth section of the act aforesaid, shall 
notwithstanding be legal, and in the cases provided for by that section, 
a portion of the property shall be retained as samples, so that the price 
may be settled and compensation adjusted according to the provisions of 
the same. 
order. 
Adjutant and Inspector General. 
S. COOPER,