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Adjutant and Inspector General Reports
1862 Report
Appendix B
OrdersSTATE OF VERMONT.
Adjutant and Inspector General's Office,
Woodstock, August 11, 1862.The following instructions are issued for the guidance of the Listers of the several towns in this State, in making the enrolment required by General Order No. 11, dated August 11, 1862:
- The name of every able-bodied citizen of the town, between the specified ages, is to be entered upon the roll, without regard to whether he is exempt from enrolment or from military duty. Unnaturalized foreigners are not citizens.
- Men who are not able-bodied are not to be entered upon the roll. But in determining who are not able-bodied the Listers are to be guided by a sound discretion and a sense of duty to the country and to all the other citizens of the town; since the omission of any man from the roll increases the liability to draft of every men left upon the roll. The declaration of a man, as to his inability, should never be taken, unless the disability is of so obvious a character that it is plain to be seen by any observer. If not plain and open to observation, the disability should be established to the satisfaction of the listers, both by the affidavit of the person claiming the disability, signed and sworn to in due form of law, and by the certificate in writing of two respectable physicians, in full and active practice, stating the existence and nature of the disability, its effects, and the probable length of time that it will continue. And no exemption is to be made for any disability, unless it be of such permanent character as to render the person unfit for service for a period of more than thirty days.
The following diseases and imperfections are proper causes of military disability:--Wounds of the head which impair the faculties or cause convulsions, serious impairment of hearing, speech, or vision; anchylosis, or active disease of any of the large joints; the presence of pulmonary disease, or organic disease of the heart; hernia; fisula in ano; large hemorrhoids; large and painful varicele, or varicose veins, which extend above the knee; the loss of a limb, or of the thumb and fore-finger of the right hand, or of any two fingers of the right hand; any marked physical imperfections, which would unfit for active service.
- The age and occupation of each man are to be entered on the roll. The age of each man is to be determined by the listers from the best means of information in their power. They will not, in all cases, rely upon the declaration of the party, but will, if they have doubts, require him to make satisfactory proof of his age. If the listers have reasonable doubt as to whether a man is not in fact over eighteen, although he represents himself younger, or under forty-five, although he represents himself older, and no proof is made to their satisfaction, it is their duty to enter the man's name upon the roll.
- If, from any legal cause, a person whose name is entered upon the roll is exempt from military duty, or from enrolment, the fact which gives him exemption is to be entered against his name, in the column of remarks. It will not do to write "exempt," but the fact must be stated which creates the exemption,--as, that he is a "judge of the county court," a "sheriff," a "deputy sheriff," a "minister of the gospel," &c.
- The following persons are exempted from military duty at the present time:-the Vice President of the United States; the officers, judicial and executive, of the government of the United States; the members of both houses of Congress, and their respective officers; all customs house officers and their clerks; all pot officers and stage drivers, who are employed in the care and conveyance of the mails of the post offices of the United States; all ferrymen employed on any ferry on post road; all pilots; all mariners actually employed in the sea service of any citizen or merchant within the United States; all telegraph operators and constructors actually engaged on the fifth of August, 1862; all engineers of locomotives on railroads; all engineers and pilots of registered or licensed steamboats and steamships; ministers of the gospel; members of the religious denomination of Quakers; faculties of colleges; all personas who have been commissioned in the militia of this State, or of the United States, and have been honorably discharged, previous to January 1st, 1844, all officers, who have been commissioned under a commission five years, and have been honorable discharged; officers of any corps which has been disbanded, and now held a commissions in such corps at the time it was disbanded; and all staff officers, heretofore appointed by the commanding officers of divisions, brigades and regiments, whose commissions shall have become vacant by reason of such commanding officers having been discharged, or having vacated their office. Members of fire companies are not exempt.
- The following persons are exempted from military duty upon the payment of two dollars to the treasurer of the town in which they respectively reside, and producing a receipt therefor to the listers:--Judges of the supreme and county courts; judges and registers of probate; county clerks; sheriffs and sheriffs' deputies; high bailiffs; constables; and teachers actually employed in common schools. These persons are not entitled to have the fact which constitutes their exemption noted in the column of Remarks2,until they have exhibited to the listers the receipt of the treasurer of the town for the sum of two dollars.
- The following persons are not subject to draft, and the fact which operates the exemption should be noted against the name or each, viz.: Persons now in the service of the United States, and members of uniform companies of militia, organized in pursuance of the statues of this State, and now having an active organization.
Against the names of those now in the service should be written "Now in U. S. Service;" and it should be stated in what capacity,--as, "Soldier now in U. S. Service," or "Commissioned Officer now in U. S. Service." This will include all volunteers from the respective towns. Against the names of the members of uniformed companies should be written "Member of Company of Uniform Militia," and state name of company.
- Care must be taken to write every name plainly and correctly, and the first name of every many must be written in full.
- When the roll is complete, the blank certificate at the head of the roll is to be filled out and signed by the listers, and they will also sign their names at the end of the roll.
- One copy of the roll is to be deposited in the officer of the Town Clerk, and one copy is to be sent to the officer of the Adjutant and Inspector General of the State, within the time directed in General Order No. 11.
By order of the Governor.
PETER T. WASHBURN
Adjutant and Inspector General