GENERAL ORDERS, 
No. 91. 
WAR DEPARTAIENT, 
Adjutant General’s Office, 
Washington, March 4, 1864. 
Section 7 of the act approved February 24, 1864, provides as follows: 
“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 seaman, or ordinary seaman, may enlist into the Navy under such 
rules and regulations as maybe 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 seaman, or ordinary seaman, 
enlisting from the Army into the Navy, may have received from 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 required to complete his military service: And provided 
further, That the whole number of such transfer enlistments shall not 
exceed ten thousand.” 
The following Regulations are prescribed by the President of the 
United States to cany this act into effect : 
The Secretary of the Navy designates the whole number, not exceeding 
twelve thousand, which it is desirable to have at each of the several 
Naval Stations fixed upon by him, as follows, viz: 
At Cairo, 111 1,000 
At Boston 2,000 
At New York 5,000 
At Philadelphia 3,000 
At Baltimore 1,000 
To facilitate as much as possible the execution of the law above cited, 
it shall be the duty of every officer commanding a Company, and of 
every officer commanding a recruiting rendezvous or depot, to forward 
all the applications made to him for transfer by seamen or ordinary 
seamen of his Company or detachment, together with the proof that 
the applicants are mariners by vocation, or able or ordinary seaman, 
through the proper authorities, to the Headquarters of the Army 
or Department in which the Company is serving, or in which the ren- 
dezvous or depot may be situated ; and lie shall indicate in his report 2 
those of the applicants who have served longest at sea, and whether in 
the merchant or naval service. Not less than two years’ sea service will 
constitute an ordinary seaman, and not less than four an able seaman; 
and, in the absence of other proof, the applicant may be required to 
make oath as to the service he has seen at sea. All recruits who may 
be found qualified for transfer to the Navy will be retained at the depot 
until the decision of the Army or Department Commander is made 
known. 
Each Commanding General of an Army or Department which has 
been required to furnish a quota for transfer to the Navy, will at once 
designate one or more officers, as may be required, to examine the 
applications and determine from them, according to the qualifications 
of the applicants and the number to be furnished, what men shall be 
transferred to the Navy, care being taken that the transfer enlistments 
shall be so apportioned among the companies of each command that 
no Regiment shall be reduced below the minimum organization. 
As fast as selections are made, the men selected for transfer will be 
sent to the designated stations in the most expeditious manner, under 
suitable conduct; and the officer in charge of each detachment will bo 
furnished with complete descriptive lists, containing statements of the 
pay, bounty, and clothing received and due, which will be turned over 
with the men to the Commandant of the station. 
Upon being accepted at the Naval station, the men will be dropped 
from the rolls of their companies as transferred to the Navy by enlist- 
ment; but if rejected for physical disability or for not having seen the 
prescribed sea service, they will be sent back to their Companies; and 
if guilty of fraud or misrepresentation in their applications, the expense 
of transportation will be charged against their pay. 
Weekly reports of the meu transferred under the provisions of this 
order will be made to the Adjutant General of the Army. 
By order of the Secretary of War: 
W. A. NICHOLS, 
Assistant Adjutant General. 
Officiai. 
Assistant Adjutant General,