GENERAL ORDERS No. 64. HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, I. Colonel JOHN S. CLARK, Major B. RUSH PLUMLY and Colonel GEORGE H. HANKS, are hereby appointed a Commission to regulate the Enrollmeut, Recruiting, Employment and Education of persons of color. All questions concerning the enlistment of troops for the Corps d'Afrique, the regulation of labor, or the government and education of negroes, will be referred to the decision of this Commission, subject to the approval of the Commanding General of the Department. II. No enlistments for the Corps d'Afrique will be authorized or permitted, except under regulations approved by this Commission. III. The Provost Marshal General will cause to be enrolled all able-bodied men of color in accordance with the Law of Conscription, and such number as may be required for the military defence of the Department, equally apportioned to the different parishes, will be enlisted for the military service under such regulations as the Commission may adopt. Certificates of exemption will be furnished to those not enlisted, protecting them from arrest or other interference, except for crime. IV. Soldiers of the Corps d'Afrique will not be allowed to leave their camps, or to wander through the parishes, except upon written permission, or in the company of their officers. V. Unemployed persons of color, vagrants and camp loafers, will be arrested and employed upon the public works, by the Provost Marshal's Department, without other pay than their rations and clothing. VI. Arrests of persons, and seizures of property, will not be made by colored soldiers, nor will they be charged with the custody of persons or property, except when under the command, and accompanied by duly authorized officers. VII. Any injury or wrong done to the family of any soldier, on account of his being engaged in military service, will be summarily punished. VIII. As far as practicable, the labor of persons not adapted to military service will be provided in substitution for that of enlisted men. IX. All regulations hitherto established for the government of negroes, not inconsistent herewith, will be enforced by the Provost Marshals of the different parishes, under the direction of the Provost Marshal General. BY COMMAND OF MAJOR GENERAL BANKS: OFFICIAL: RICHARD B. IRWIN, Assistant Adjutant General. Acting Assistant Adjutant General. GENERAL ORDERS No. 65. HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, I. The Court of the city of New Orleans, styled the "Provost Court," exercising the functions of a Military Court, and assuming jurisdiction over the persons of officers and soldiers of the United States, Judge Hughes, presiding, not having been established or recognized by the military authorities of this Department, and not being consistent with the proper government of the army, nor conducted according to the principle of military law, is hereby abolished. II. The Provost Marshal General is hereby directed to take possession forthwith of the records of said Court, and to retain them in safe custody until further orders. He will, by himself or his deputies, dispose of all cases of arrest existing upon the receipt of this order, and take such measures as may be necessary to maintain the public peace. III. Any officer or soldier of the army of the United States charged with any offense against the law or the public peace, and any other person charged with the violation of military orders, will, when arrested, be held for trial and sentence before the Military Court established by General Orders No. 45, unless otherwise ordered. BY COMMAND OF MAJOR GENERAL BANKS: OFFICIAL: RICHARD B. IRWIN, Assistant Adjutant General. Acting Assistant Adjutant General. |