Adjutant and Inspector General’s Office, 
GENERAL ORDERS, \ 
No. 76. 5 
Richmond, June 5, 1863. 
Officers of the army are directed in all official reports, whether of 
sieges, campaigns or battles, to confine their statements to the facts and 
events connected with the matter on which they report. *No extraneous 
subject, whether of speculation, or of collateral narrative, has a proper 
place in the official reports of military operations. As much conciseness 
as is consistent with perspicuity and fullness of statement, will be ob- 
served in such communications. 
By order. 
S. COOPER, 
Adjutant and Inspector General.