Major-General Benjamin F. Butler: General Orders No. 23, May 6, 1862

GENERAL ORDERS No. 23.}

HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF,            

New Orleans, May 6, 1862.

A military commission, of not less than five commissioned officers of and above the rank of captain, with a recorder and legal adviser, is constituted and appointed, for the trial of all high crimes and misdemeanors which by the laws of any State in the Union, or the United States, or the laws martial, are punishable with death or imprisonment for a long term of years.

The sentence of such courts will be assimilated to those provided by such laws, due regard being had to the necessity of severity and for prompt punishment incident to the crimes and disorders arising from a state of war.

The commission will sit at all convenient hours for the dispatch of business, will be attended by the provost-marshal or his assistants, all its orders respected and obeyed, and its summonses complied with.

As the motives of men make so largely the element of the crimes cognizable by this commission, the rules of evidence of the English common law may be so far relaxed as to allow the accused to be questioned in presence of the commission, always leaving it to his free choice to respond or not to the questions proposed.

The accusation will be substantially in the form used in courts-martial, excepting that it should fully set forth a description of the accused, his residence and business, whether or not he has been a loyal citizen, his antecedents, character, and acts in that regard, so far as known, which portion of the accusation may be put in controversy at the trials, provided the accused be not a soldier of the United States.

All proceedings, findings, and sentences of this commission are to be subjected to the approval of the commanding general, and will be carried into effect upon his order.

The following-named officers are detailed for and will constitute such commission:

1. Col. Henry C. Deming, Twelfth Regiment Connecticut Volunteers.

2. Col. N. A. M. Dudley, Thirtieth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers.

3. Lieut. Col. C. M. Whelden, Thirty-first Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers.

4. Maj. F. A. Boardman, Fourth Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers.

5. Capt. Peter Haggerty, aide-de-camp.

Maj. J. M. Bell, volunteer aide-de-camp, recorder and legal adviser. By command of Major-General Butler:

GEO. C. STRONG,               

Acting Chief of Staff.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 6 (Serial No. 6), p. 722-3