Samuel Cooper: General Orders No. 82, October 20, 1864

GENERAL ORDERS No. 82.}

ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL'S OFFICE,        

Richmond, October 20, 1864.

I. The Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance will, without delay, take measures to place in the field one-fifth of all the men employed in his department (including contractors and their employés) of the classes specified in General Orders, No. 77, Adjutant and Inspector General's Office, current series. To this end he will direct the several officers in charge of arsenals, workshops, depots, &c., to turn over to the nearest enrolling officer, by list, showing their ages, occupation, and residence, such proportion of their employés (including contractors and employés under them) of the class above referred to as will constitute in the aggregate one-fifth of the whole number in the said classes, according to returns in his office of September 30, 1864. Duplicates of such list will be sent to the general of reserves of the States, and triplicates to the Chief of Ordnance. Three days are allowed for the execution of this order after its reception at any post or station of the Ordnance Department.

II. The chief of the Niter and Mining Bureau will turn over in like manner, on similar lists, one-fifth of all men of the classes specified in General Orders, No. 77, employed in iron, lead, copper, and coal mining, and in all service appertaining thereto, whether under officers of his Bureau or by contractors. Duplicate and triplicate lists to be furnished as above directed in the Ordnance Bureau, and will in like manner turn over one-fifth of all such men as are employed in the niter service. The period of three days, under the same conditions as above mentioned, are allowed for the execution of this order.

III. The list of persons directed in the foregoing sections to be turned over to the enrolling officer will be prepared at once on the reception of this order, and will be furnished to the said officers within three days, as above prescribed, by the various officers of each of the above bureaus having men under their charge, and every assistance will be rendered by the latter to the enrolling officers to carry out the intention of this order.

IV. So much of General Orders, No. 77, as relates to men employed in the two bureaus named above is hereby suspended, and the foregoing order will stand in lieu of all requirements under the former.

By order:

S. COOPER,        

Adjutant and Inspector General.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series IV, Volume 3 (Serial No. 129), p. 741