GENERAL ORDERS, 
No. 75. 
WAR DEPARTMENT, 
Adjutant General's Office, 
Washington, February 25, 18G4. 
The following act of Congress is published for the information of all 
concerned: 
Public—No. 11. 
I..AN ACT to amend an act entitled “An act for enrolling and calling out the 
National Forces, and for other purposes,” approved March third, eighteen hundred 
and sixty-three. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the 
United States shall be authorized, whenever he shall deem it necessary, 
during the present war, to call for such number of men for the military 
service of the United States as the public exigencies may require. 
Sec. 2. And be it fun her enacted, That the quota of each ward of it 
city, town, township, precinct, or electiou district, or of a county, where 
the county is not divided into wards, towns, townships, precincts, or 
election districts, shall be, as nearly as possible, in proportion to the 
number of men resident therein liable to render military service, taking 
into account, as far as practicable, the number which has been pre- 
viously furnished therefrom; and in ascertaining and filling said quota 
there shall be taken into account the number of men who have hereto- 
fore entered the naval service of the United States, and whose names 
are borne upon the enrollment lists as already returned to the office of 
the Provost Marshal General of the United States. 
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That if the quotas shall not be filled 
within the time designated by the President, the Provost Marshal of the 
district within which any ward of a city, town, township, precinct, or 
election district, or county, where the same is not divided into wards, 
towns, townships, precincts, or election districts, which is deficient in 
its quota, is situated, shall, under the direction of the Provost Mar-hal 
General, make a draft, for the number deficient therefrom; but ail vol- 
unteers who may enlist after the draft shall have been ordered, and 
before it shall be actually made, shall be deducted from the number 2 
ordered to be drafted in such ward, town, township, precinct, or election 
district, or county. And if the quota of any district shall not be filled 
by the draft made in accordance with the provisions of this act, and the 
act to which it is an amendment, further drafts shall be made, and like 
proceedings had, until the quota of such district shall be filled. 
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That any person enrolled under the 
provisions of the act for enrolling and calling out the national forces, 
and for other purposes, approved March third, eighteen hundred and 
sixty-three, or who may be hereafter so enrolled, nray furnish, at any 
time previous to the draft, an acceptable substitute, who is not liable to 
draft, nor, at the time, in the military or naval service of the United 
States; and such person so furnishing a substitute shall be exempt from 
draft during the time for which such substitute shall not be liable to 
draft, not exceeding the time for which such substitute shall have been 
accepted. 
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That any person drafted into the 
military service of the United States may, before the time fixed for his 
appearance for duty at the draft rendezvous, furnish an acceptable sub- 
stitute, subject to such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by 
the Secretary of War; that if such substitute is not liable to draft, 
the person furnishing him shall be exempt from draft during the time 
for which such substitute is not liable to draft, not exceeding the term 
for which he was drafted; and if such substitute is liable to draft, the 
name of the person furnishing him shall again be placed on the roll, 
qnd shall be liable to draft on future calls, but not until the present 
enrollment shall be exhausted ; and this exemption shall not exceed the 
term for which such person shall have been drafted. And any person 
now in the military or naval service of the United States, not physically 
disqualified, who has so served more than one year, and whose term of 
unexpired service shall not at the time of substitution exceed six months, 
may be employed as a substitute to serve in the troops of the State in 
which he enlisted; and if any drafted person shall hereafter pay money 
for the procuration of a substitute, under the provisions of the act to 
which this is an amendment, such payment of money shall operate oniy 
to relieve such person from draft in filling that quota; and his name 
shall be retained on the roll in filling future quotas; but in no instance 
shall the exemption of any person, on account of his payment of com- 
mutation money for the procuration of a substitute, extend beyond one 
year; but at the end of one year, in every such case, the name of any 3 
person so exempted shall be enrolled again, if not before returned to 
the enrollment list under the provisions of this section. 
Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That Boards of Enrollment shall 
enroll all persons liable to draft under the provisions of this act, and the 
act to which this is an amendment, whose names may have been omitted 
by the proper enrolling officers; all persons who shall arrive at the age 
of twenty years before the draft; all aliens who shall declare their 
intention to become citizens; all persons discharged from the military 
or naval service of the United States who have not been in such service 
two years during the present war; and all persons who have been 
exempted under the provisions of the second section of the act to rvhich 
this is an amendment, but who are not exempted by the provisions of 
this act; and said Boards of Enrollment shall release and discharge from 
draft all persons who, between the time of the enrollment and the draft, 
shall have arrived at the age of forty-five years, and shall strike the 
names of such persons from the enrollment. 
Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That any mariner, or able or ordi- 
nary seaman, who shall be drafted under this act, or the act to which 
this is an amendment, shall have the right, within eight days after the 
notification of such draft, to enlist in the naval service as a seaman ; and 
a certificate that he has so enlisted being made out, in conformity with 
regulations which may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Navy, and 
duly presented to the Provost Marshal of the district in which such 
mariner, or able or ordinary seaman, shall have been drafted, shall 
exempt him from such draft: Provided, That the period for which he 
shall have enlisted into the naval service shall not be less than the 
period for which he shall have been drafted into the military service: 
And provided fu'th'r, That the said certificate shall declare that satis- 
factory proof has been made before the naval officer issuing the same 
that the said person so enlisting in the navy is a mariner by vocation, 
or an able or ordinary seaman. And any person now in the military 
service of the United States who shall furnish satisfactory proof that he 
is a mariner by vocation, or an able or ordinary seaman, may enlist into 
the navy under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the 
President of the United States: Provided, That such enlistment shall 
not be for less than the unexpired term of his military service, nor for 
less than one year. And the bounty money -which any mariner or sea- 
man, enlisting from the army into the navy, may have received from 4 
the United States, or from the State in which he enlisted in the army, 
shall be deducted from the prize money to which he may become 
entitled during the time requited to complete his military service: And 
provided further, That the whole number of such transfer enlistments 
shall not exceed ten thousand. 
Sec. 8. And he it further enacted, That whenever any such mariner, 
or able or ordinary sea nan, shall have been exempted from such draft 
in the military service by such enlistment into the naval service, under 
such due certificate thereof, then the ward, town, township, precinct, 
or election district, or county, when the same is not divided into wards, 
towns, townships, precincts, or election distiicts, from which such per- 
son has been dratted, shall be credited with his services to all intents 
and purposes as if ho had been duly mustered into the military service 
under such draft. 
Sec. 9. And he it further enacted, That all enlistments into the naval 
service of the United States, or into the marine corps of the United 
States, that may hereafter be made of persons liable to service under 
the act of Confess entitled “An act for emolling and calling out the 
national forces, and for other purposes,” approved March third, eighteen 
hundred and sixty-three, shall be ciedited to the ward, town, township, 
precinct, or election district, or county, when the same is not divided 
into wards, towns, townships, precincts, or election districts, in which 
such enlisted men wore or may be enrolled and liable to duty under the 
act aforesaid, under such regulations as the Provost Marshal General of 
the United States may prescribe. 
Sec. 10. And he it further enacted, That the following persons be, and 
they are hereby, exempted from enrollment and draft under the provisions 
of this act, and of the act to which this is an amendment, to wit: Such 
as are rejected as physically or mentally unfit for the service, all persons 
actually in the military or naval service of the United States at the time 
of the draft, and all persons who have served in the military or naval 
service two years during the present war and been honorably discharged 
therefrom; and no persons but such as are herein exempted shall be 
exempt. 
Sec. 11. And he it further enacted, That section third of the “ Act for 
enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purj oses,” 
approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, and so much 
of section ten of said act as provides for the separate enrollment of each 5 
class, be, and the same are hereby, repealed; and it shall be the duty 
of the Board of Enrollment of each district to consolidate the two classes 
mentioned in the third section of said act. 
Sec. 12. Ami be n fur’her enacted, That any person who shall forcibly 
resist or oppose any enrollment, or who shall incite, counsel, encouiage, 
or who shall conspire or confederate with any other person or persons 
forcibly to resist or oppose any such enrollment, or who shall aid or 
assist, or take any part in any forcible resistance or opposition thereto, 
or who shall assault, obstruct, hinder, impede, or threaten any oSeer or 
other person employed in making, or in aiding to make, such enroll- 
ment, or employed in the performance, or in aiding in the performance, 
of any service in any way relating thereto, or in arresting, or aiding 
to arrest, any spy or deserter from the military service of the United 
States, shall, upon conviction thereof in any court competent to try the 
offense, be punished by a'fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by 
imprisonment not exceeding five years, or by both of said punishments, 
in the discretion of the court. And in cases where such assaulting, 
obstructing, hindering, or impeding, shall produce the death of such 
officer or other person, the offender shall be deemed guilty of murder, 
and, upon conviction thereof upon indictment in the circuit court of 
the United States for the district within which the offense was commit- 
ted, shall l e punished with death. And nothing in this section contained 
shall be construed to relieve the party offending from liability, under 
proper indictment or process, for any crime against the laws of a State 
committed by him while violating the provisions of this section. 
St C. 13. And be it further•enacted, That the Secretary of War shall 
be authoiized to detail or appoint such number of additional surgeons 
for temporary duty in the examination of persons drafted iuto the mili- 
tary service, in any district, as may be necessary to secure the prompt 
examination of all such persons, and to fix the compensation to be paid 
surgeons so appointed while actually employed. And such surgeons 
so detailed or appointed shall perform the same duties as the surgeon 
of the Board of Enrollment, except that they shall not be permitted to 
vote or sit wiih the Boaid of Enrollment. 
Sec. 14. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of War is au- 
thorized, whenever in liis judgment the public interest will be subserved 
thereby, to permit or require Boards of Examination of enrolled or 
drafted men to hold their examinations at different points within their 
respective enrollment districts, to be determined by him: Provided, That in all districts over one hundred miles in extent, and in such as are com- 
posed of over ten counties, the Board shall hold their sessions in at least 
two places in such district, and at such points as are best calculated to 
accommodate the people thereof. 
SBC. 15. And be it further enacted, That Provost Marshals, Boards of 
Enrollment, or any member thereof acting by authority of the Board, 
shall have power to summon witnesses in behalf of the Government, and 
enforce their attendance by attachment, without previous payment of 
fees, in any case pending before them, or either of them; and the fres 
allowed for witnesses attending under summons shall be six cents per 
mile for mileage, counting one way; and no other fees or costs shall be 
allowed under the provisions of this section ; and they shall have power 
to administer oaths and affirmations. And any person who shall will- 
fully and corruptly swear or affirm falsely before any Provost Marshal, 
or Board of Enrollment, or member thereof acting by authority of the 
Board, or who shall, before any civil magistrate, willfully and corruptly 
swear or affirm falsely to any affidavit to be used in any case pending 
before any Provost Marshal or Board of Enrollment, shall, on conviction, 
be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars, and imprisoned not less 
than six months nor more than twelve months. The drafted men shall 
have process to bring in witnesses, but without mileage. 
Sec 16. And be it further enacted, That copies of any record of a 
Provost Marshal or Board of Enrollment, or of any part thereof, certi- 
fied by the Provost Marshal, or a majority of said Board of Enrollment, 
shall be deemed and taken as evidence in any civil or military court in 
like manner as the original record: Provided, That if any person shall 
knowingly certify any false copy or copies of such record, to be used in 
any civil or military court, he shall be subject to the pains and penalties 
of perjury. 
Sec. 17. And be it further enacted, That members of religious denomi- 
nations, who shall by oath or affirmation declare that they are conscien- 
tiously opposed to the bearing of arms, and who are prohibited from 
doing so by the rules and articles of faith and practice of said religious 
denomination, shall, when drafted into the military service, be con- 
sidered non-combatants, and shall be assigned by the Secretary of War 
to duty in the hospitals, or to the care of freed men, or shall pay the 
sum of three hundred dollars to such person as the Secretary of War 
shall designate to receive it, to be applied to the benefit of the sick and 
wounded soldiers: Provided, That no person shall be entitled to the 7 
benefit of the provisions of this section, unless his declaration of con- 
scientious scruples against bearing arms shall be supported by satisfac- 
tory evidence that his deportment has been uniformly consistent with 
such declaration. 
Sec. 18. And be it further enacted, That no person of foreign birth 
shall, on account of alienage, be exempted from enrollment or draft 
under the provisions of this act, or the act to which it is an amendment, 
who has at any time assumed the rights of a ci izen by voting at any 
electiou held under authority of the laws of any State or Territory, or of 
the United States, or who has held any office uuder such laws or any 
of them; but the fact that auy such person of foregin birth has voted or 
held, or shall vote or hold, office as aforesaid, shall be taken as conclu- 
sive evidence that he is not entitled to exemption from military service 
on account of alienage. 
Sec. 19. And he it further enacted, That all claims to exemption shall 
be verified by the oath or affirmation of the party claiming exemption 
to the truth of the facts stated, unless it shall satisfactorily appear to 
the Board of Enrollment that such party is, for some good and sufficient 
reason, unable to make such oath or affirmation; and the testimony of 
any other party filed in support of a claim to exemption shall also be 
made upon oath or affirmation. 
Sec. 20. And be it further enacted, That if any person drafted and 
liable to render military service shall procure a decision of the Board of 
Enrollment in his favor upon a claim to exemption by any fraud or false 
representation practised by himself or by his procurement, such decision 
or exemption shall be of no effect, and the person exempted, or in whose 
favor the decision may be made, shall be deemed a deserter, and may 
be arrested, tried by court martial, and punished as such, and shall be 
held to service for the full term for which he was drafted, reckoning 
from the time of his arrest: Provided, That the Secretary of War may 
order the discharge of all persons in the military service who are under 
the age of eighteen years at the time of the application for their dis- 
charge, when it shall appear upon due proof that such persons are in 
the service without the consent; either express or implied, of their 
parents or guardians: And provided further, That such persons, their 
parents or guardians, shall first repay to the Government and to the 
State and local authorities all bounties and advance pay which may 
have been paid to them, anything in the act to which this is an amend 
rnent to the contrary notwithstanding. 8 
Sec. 21. And be it further enacted, That any person who shall pro- 
cure, or attempt to procure, a false report from the surgeon of the 
Board of Enrollment concerning the physical condition of any drafted 
person, or a decision in favor of such person by the Board of Enrollment 
upon a claim to exemption, knowing the same to be false, shall, upon 
conviction in any district or circuit court of the United States, be pun- 
ished by imprisonment for the period for which the party was drafted. 
Sec. 22. And be it further enacted, That the fees of agents and attor- 
neys for making out and causing to be executed any papers in support 
of a claim for exemption from draft, or for any services that may he 
rendered to the claimant, shall not, in any case, exceed five dollars; 
and physicians or surgeons furnishing certificates of-disability to any 
claimaut for exemption from draft shall not be entitled to any fees or 
compensation therefor. And any agent or attorney who shall, directly 
or indirectly, demand or receive any greater compensation for his ser- 
vices under this act, and any physician or surgeon who shall, directly 
or indirectly, demand or receive any compensation for furnishing said 
certificates of disability, and any officer, clerk, or deputy connected 
with the Board of Enrollment, who shall receive compensation from 
any drafted man for any services, or obtaining the performance of such 
service required from any member of said Board by the provisions of 
this act, shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor, and upon con- 
viction shall, for every such offense, be fined not exceeding five hundred 
dollars, to be recovered upon information or indictment before any court 
of competent jurisdiction, one-half for the use of any informer, who may 
prosecute for the same in the name of the United States, and the other 
half for the use of the United States; and shall also be subject to 
imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, at the discretion of 
the court. 
Sec. 23. And be it further enacted, That no member of the Board of 
Enrollment, and no surgeon detailed or employed to assist the Board 
of Enrollment, and no clerk, assistant, or employee of any Provost 
Marshal or Board of Enrollment, shall, directly or iudirectly, be engaged 
in procuring, or attempting to procure, substitutes for persons drafted, 
or liable to be drafted, into the military service of the United States. 
And if any member of a Board of Enrollment, or any such surgeon, 
clerk, assistant, or employee, shall procure, or attempt to procure, a 
substitute for any person drafted, or liable to he drafted as aforesaid, he 
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction, 9 
be punished by imprisonment not less than thirty days nor more than 
six months, and pay a line not less than one hundred nor more than one 
thousand dollars, by any court competent to try the offense. 
Sec. 24. A nd be it further enacted, That all able-bodied male colored 
persons between the ages of twenty and forty-five years, resident in the 
United States, shall be enrolled according to the provisions of this act, 
and of the act to which this is an amendment, and form part of the 
national forces; and when a slave of a loyal master shall be drafted 
and mustered into the service of the United States, his master shall 
have a certificate thereof; and thereupon such slave shall be free, and 
the bounty of one hundred dollars, now payable by law for each drafted 
man, shall be paid to the person to whom such drafted person was 
owing service or labor at the time of his muster into the service of the 
United States. The Secretary' of War shall appoint a commission in 
each of the slave States represented in Congress, charged to award to 
each loyal person to whom a colored volunteer may owe service a just 
compensation, not exceeding three hundred dollars, for each such 
colored volunteer, payable out of the fund derived from commutations; 
and every such colored volunteer on being mustered into the service 
shall be free. And in all cases where men of color have been hereto- 
fore enlisted, or have volunteered in the military service of the United 
States, all the provisions of this act, so far as the payment of bounty 
and compensation are provided, shall be equally applicable as to those 
who may be hereafter recruited. But men of color, drafted or enlisted, 
or who may volunteer into the military service, while they shall be 
credited on the quotas of the several States or subdivisions of States 
wherein they are respectively drafted, enlisted, or shall volunteer, shall 
not be assigned as State troops, but shall be mustered into Regiments 
or Companies as United States colored troops. 
Sec. 25. And be it further enacted, That the fifteenth section of the 
act to which this is amendatory be so amended that it will read as 
follows : That any surgeon charged with the duty of such inspection, 
who shall receive from any person whomsoever any money or other 
valuable thing, or agree, directly or indirectly, to receive the same to 
his own or another’s use, for making an imperfect inspection or a false 
or incorrect report, or who shall willfully neglect to make a faithful 
inspection and true report, and each member of the Board of Enroll- 
ment who shall willfully agree to the discharge from service of any 
drafted person who is not legally and properly entitled to such discharge, 
A, G. O. No. 75—2 10 
shall be tried by a court martial, aud, on conviction thereof, be pun 
ished by a fine not less than three hundred dollars aud not more than 
ten thousand dollars, shall be imprisoned at the discretion of the court, 
and be cashiered and dismissed the service. 
Sec. 26. And be it further enacted, That the words “precinct” and 
“ election district,” as used in this act, shall not be construed to require 
any subdivision for purposes of enrollment and draft less than the 
wards into which any city or village may be divided, or than the towns 
or townships into which any county may be divided. 
SEC. 27. And be it further enacted, That so much of the act entitled 
“ An act for enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other 
purposes,” approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, as 
may be inconsistent with the provisions of this act, is hereby repealed. 
Approved February 24, 1864. 
By order of the Secretary of War: 
E. D. TOWNSEND, 
Assistant Adjutant General. 
Official: 
Assistant Adjutant General