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Adjutant and Inspector General Reports

1862 Report
Appendix B
Orders

STATE OF VERMONT.

Adjutant and Inspector General's Office,
Woodstock, August 21st, 1862.

Representations having been made that physicians are giving certificates of disability very generally, in some towns, and in many cases to men apparently able-bodied, and who can perform all ordinary labor, that the thereby Listers are greatly embarrassed in the performance of their duty, it is deemed proper to issue the following additional instructions for the guidance of Listers:

  1. Listers are not obliged to omit the name of a man from the Roll merely because he has a certificate from two physicians. The Listers are made the judges whether, or not, a man is able-bodied; and disability, if claimed, must be proved to their satisfaction.

  2. If the disability claimed is the result of some latent disease, not open to observation, the Listers should in no case omit the name of the man, unless he produces to them his own affidavit and the certificate of two physicians, as required by the original instructions issued to Listers from this office, dated August 11, 1862. Nor are they allowed even them to omit the name from the enrolment, if such affidavit and certificate do not satisfy the judgment of the Listers, that the man is not able-bodied. In such case, it is their duty to enroll the man; and if the man should be drafted, the final inspection of the Brigade Surgeon will determine whether he is or is not in fact able-bodied. In all cases of real doubt, the LIsters should enroll the man; for it they omit him wrongfully, the error cannot be corrected; but if his name appears wrongfully upon the Roll, the error can be corrected by the final medical inspection.

  3. Listers are solely responsible for the correctness of the Roll; and they cannot relieve themselves from that responsibility, by relying upon the judgment of any other persons, against their own better judgment; and they are expected and required to perform that duty without fear or favor, having solely in view their duty to the country and to all the other citizens of the town.

By order of the Governor.

PETER T. WASHBURN

Adjutant and Inspector General