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GENERAL ORDERS HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF. New Orleans, September 30, 1863.

No. 73.

The following order from the War Department, Adjutant General's Office, is republished for the information and guidance of all concerned:

GENERAL ORDERS

WAR DEPARTMENT,

No. 288.

ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,
Washington, August 18, 1863.

Order in relation to Seizures of Goods.

In every case of seizure of goods by officers acting under the authority of this Department, a true and perfect inventory thereof shall be taken in triplicate by the officer making the seizure, one copy of which shall be given to the person from whom the goods were taken, one copy retained by the officer, and the third copy will be forwarded with a report of the seizure, which will be immediately made to this Department. The officer making the seizure will be held accountable for the goods while they are under his charge, and until they are disposed of according to orders from this Department.

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CIRCULAR.

HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,
OFFICE OF THE JUDGE ADVOCATE,

New Orleans, October 12, 1863.

The following instructions and extracts relating to Courts Martial are published for the information and guidance of the troops of this Department:

ACTS OF CONGRESS.

Act approved July 17, 1862, entitled, " An Act to amend the law calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union," etc.:

SECTION 7." That hereafter, all offenders in the army charged with offenses now punishable by a regimental or garrison court martial, shall be brought before a field officer of his regiment, who shall be detailed for that purpose, and who shall hear and determine the offense and order the punishment that shall be inflicted, and shall also make a record of his proceedings, and submit the same to the brigade commander, who, upon the approval of the proceedings of such field officer, shall order the same to be executed: Provided, That the punishment in such cases shall be limited to that authorized to be inflicted by a regimental or garrison court martial: And provided, further, That in the event of there being no brigade commander, the proceedings as aforesaid shall be submitted for approval to the commanding officer of the post."

Agreeably to instructions from the Judge Advocate General, the foregoing section will be so construed as to abolish regimental and garrison courts martial in those cases only where a field officer of the regiment of the accused is present and subject to detail. In all other cases, regimental and garrison courts martial will be resorted to as heretofore.

Act approved December 24, 1861, entitled, " An Act relative to Courts Martial in the Army:"

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CHAPTER 3. That in time of war, the commander of a division or separate brigade may appoint general courts martial, and confirm, execute, pardon and mitigate their sentences, as allowed and restrained by the 65th and 89th Articles of War to commanders of armies and departments: Provided, That sentences of such courts extending to loss of life or dismission of a commissioned officer, shall require the confirmation of the general commanding the army in the field* to which the division or brigade belongs: And provided, further, That when the division or Here, the Department Commander.

brigade commander shall be the accuser or prosecutor, the court shall be appointed by the next higher commander."

When the authority convening the court has not the power to carry the sentence into execution or to remit it, as in a capital case or in the case of the dismissal of a commissioned officer, it is still his duty, before forwarding the proceedings, to endorse on them his opinion. Sentences of death or cashiering an officer can only be remitted by the President.

Act approved July 17, 1862, entitled, "An Act to amend the act calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union," etc.:

SECTION 5.-" And no sentence of death, or im; risonment in the penitentiary, shall be carried into execution until the same shall have been approved by the President."

All commanders who have power to appoint General Courts Martial are authorized to appoint Military Commissions. None, save the President of the United States, can appoint Courts of Inquiry, unless an application for one is made by the officer whose conduct is to be examined. In the latter case, any authority competent to order a General Court Martial can appoint a Court of Inquiry.

The proceedings of all General Courts Martial, Military Commissions and Courts of Inquiry, together with copies of the orders issued thereon, will be forwarded, with the action of the reviewing officer indorsed thereon, and a copy of the order promulgating the proceedings, to the Adjutant General of the Army, marked on the cover, "Judge Advocate."

Act approved March 3, 1863, entitled, "An Act for enrolling and calling out the National Forees, and for other purposes:"

SECTION 21.-" And be it further enacled, That so much of the fifth section of the act approved seventeenth July, 1862, entitled, 'An Act to amend an act calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union,' and so forth, as requires the approval of the President to carry into execution the sentence of any court martial, be and the same is hereby repealed, as far as relates to carrying into execution the sentence of any court martial against any person convicted as a spy or deserter, or of mutiny or murder; and hereafter, sentence in punishment of these offenses may be carried into execution upon the approval of the commanding general in the field."

SECTION 22." And be it further enacted, That courts martial shall have the power to sentence officers who shall absent themselves from their commands without leave, to be reduced to the ranks, to serve three years or during the war,"

SECTION 30." And be it further enacted, That in time of war, insurrection or rebellion, murder, assault and battery with an intent to kill, manslaughter, mayhem wounding by shooting or stabbing with an intent to commit murder, robbery, arson, burglary, rape, assault and battery with an intent to commit rape, and larceny, shall be punished by sentence of a general court martial or military com

mission, when committed by persons who are in the military service of the United States and subject to the Articles of War; and the punishments for such offenses shall never be less than those inflicted by the laws of the State, Territory or District in which they may have been committed."

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"The record shall be clearly and legibly written; as far as practicable, without erasures or interlineations." The disinclination of the Judge Advocate to rewrite a portion of the proceedings, is no excuse for the transmittal of an imperfect record, which may necessitate the reconvening of the court.

THE CHARGES.

De Hart's Military Law, pp. 313, 314-

"It is the essential duty of the Judge Advocate to see that the charges which have been committed to him for prosecution are presented to the court in a legal form, and with such distinctness that they shall correspond to the requirements indicated in a preceding chapter. When charges are furnished to the Judge Advocate from Headquarters in a specific form, there may be some doubt as to the right of making any alterations therein; and therefore, should any defect be seen, he had better call the notice of the proper authority to it, whenever time and distance will permit. It is undoubtedly, however, his duty to amend the legal defects of charges before the prisoner is called upon to plead thereto, for this seems to be an essential part of his business; yet in so doing he is to be held strictly responsible that the facts are not changed nor the legal responsibilities of the accused weakened. There is an order embodying the above regulations for the guidance of the Judge Advocates still in force, and to such may reference be had for the exercise of the rights or powers here alluded to. The changes which are most frequently needed to be made are mostly confined to form and phraseology--to simplify the first and prune the redundant fullness of the other comprise the ordinary elements for notice. As has been previously remarked, that the manner in which charges are drawn up is a primary requisite for the doing of justice in general, and of peculiar value in isolated cases, it would seem to be a necessity that the person upon whom is devolved the onus of the prosecution should likewise be of such fitness as to be entrusted with the responsibility, and endowed with the discretion, to change or modify the charges, either as legal necessity or practical rules shall require.” Benét's Military Law and Courts Martial, p. 89—

“The officer who appoints the court finds the true bill of indictment, but the Judge Advocate, as prosecutor for the United States, has official right to make the charges technically correct."

The looseness with which charges are generally drawn, and the neglect of Judge Advocates to correct the fault, makes it necessary to call their attention to this subject. They will be held responsible for the performance of this duty.

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