Ti. 
 
 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 Circular to com 
 Conf Pam 12mo #802 
 
Circular to Commandants of Conscripts, 
 
 Bureau op Conscription, 
 
 Richmond, Va., June 23, 1863. 
 
 A difference of opinion having arisen as to the right of officers of con- 
 scription to order a re-examination of persons to whom exemptions have 
 been granted by medical examining boards, and upon the duties of such 
 boards, as governed by paragraph II, General Orders, No. 39, current 
 series, in connection with General Orders, No. 58, of J 862, and 22, of 
 1^63, Adjutant and Inspector General's office, the folio-wing instructions 
 are issued for the information and guidance of all concerned : 
 
 The War Department, in its construction of the act of Congress pro- 
 viding for the examination of enrolled persons, by a medical board, 
 ■whose decision should be final, "has not regarded the term 'fnar in 
 this act as importing that there should be but one examination of the 
 medical board, or that their certificates cannot be recalled or revised. The 
 '^ condition of a person's physical or mental capacity is liable to changt, 
 and with the changes that may occur his liability to perform service may 
 alter. 
 
 " The act of Congress makes these certificates of the medical boaid 
 'Jinal ' in the sense that it settles the liability so long as it is in force — 
 that the person is not subject to the enrolling officer or commandant ..f 
 conscripts while it is in force. But this agency for enforcing the con- 
 script act, like all the other agencies of its administration, is subordinate 
 to the War Department, as charged by the President with its execution. 
 The Department can call out and place in service, from time to time, per- 
 sons enrolled who are not in the service, and may direct the enquiries* 
 ' proper to accomplish the object." 
 
 The War Department having the necessary authority to order re-exami- 
 nation in all cases, recognizes the hardships that would result from an 
 indiscriminate exercise of this power, and is of opinion that it should be 
 used only in a limited way. Enrolling officers will, therefore, exercise 
 great caution in executing the following instructions : 
 
 JVhen in the opinion of enrolling officers the causes for which exemption 
 was granted to a person after examination by the medical hoard, have ceased 
 
to tzist, Oity trdl makt a report in JuU to the hoard, slating the nam^ of 
 the person, tehen tnroUtd, icktn ttamined, and the disease, tcith reasons for 
 IdittinfT it to hate disnppmrrd, and that the person is capable of prrform- 
 init sertict. 
 
 If thr frnininhi^ hmird shall thnil; pmprr. it trill nrdrr the par't) to f.f 
 hrou^ht hrforc it for a rr-rraminntinn. I'ntU the board shtUl so order, tht 
 prrson crempted trUl not hr molested. 
 
 lu this connt'Ction, if is deemed proper t^ state that General Orders, No. 
 22, of 1863, and 58. of 1862, Adjutant and InRp«^ctor Geninal's offic«, 
 are general iuBtnictious, and should not be construed as an exhaustive 
 ^numeration of causos insufficient to exempt from review a verdict of 
 physipul inc^p.-u'ity for military service. 
 
 G. W. LAY, 
 
 Lieut Col. A. A. (i. 
 
 Act'g Chief Ojf liureau. 
 

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