Adjutant and Inspector General’s Office, 
GENEEAL OEDEES, \ 
No. 86. J 
Richmond, June 22, 1863. 
Whereas, there have been a number of applications to this department 
for authority to raise companies for local defence and special service, and 
for instructions as to the method by which such organizations may be 
made and the privileges they may claim, the department has adopted the 
following regulations on "the subject: 
I. Companies, battalions and regiments composed of persons not with- 
in the age of conscription (18 and 40), will be accepted as volunteers 
throughout the Confederacy, under the act of August 21st, 1861 (No. 
229), for local defence and special service. 
11. The organization of corps for local defence must conform to that 
prescribed for companies,, battalions and regiments of the provisional 
army. The minimum number for a company of infantry of 64 rank and 
file, and for cavalry 60. Battalions must consist of not less than five 
companies, and regiments of ten. Artillery is not desirable. Members 
of cavalry companies must furnish their own horses, but will receive 
forty cents per day for their use while in actual service. 
111.- The muster roll of all such organizations shall specify that the 
said organizations are raised under this act, and subject to these regula- 
tions, and contain a description of the volunteer as to age, residence and 
date of enlistment, and the term of enlistment for the war. 
. • * 
IY. Such organizations will not be considered as in actual service, for 
the purpose of receiving pay or subsistence, except when called for by 
the President. 
V. They will not be called for until a necessity arises for service. 
They shall not be required to go beyond the limits of the State to which 
they belong. 
YI. They are expected to serve when called out, only so long as the 
emergency exists, and then to return to their ordinary pursuits until again 
called. 
VII Arms and equipments, when not possessed by the members, will, 
to the extent necessary to supply, be furnished by the Confederate States. 2 
YIII. Should any of them be captured, they shall be claimed as pri- 
soners of war, and all the protection of the government will be extended 
to them. 
IX. Field officers of battalions and regiments to be organized, will be 
appointed by the President, in accordance with the act aforesaid. Com- 
pany officers may be elected by the companies, or appointed, as the mem- 
bers may consent. 
X. That these organizations will be preferred to and exempt their mem- 
bers from any call of militia. 
XI. The commandant of any military post of the Confederate States, 
the sheriff of any county, or the colonel commanding any militia regi- 
ment, or the judge or justice of any county or other court, may certify 
and return the, muster rolls, which must be sent to the Adjutant and In- 
spector General’s office at Richmond, for acceptance. 
XII. In the event of a call by the President, under the law of con- 
scription, on all between the ages of 40 and 45, those in said organiza- 
tions subject to such call will be liable to discharge or transfer. 
For the information and guidance of those desirous of volunteering for 
local defence, the law of August 21st, 1861, is hereto appended. 
An Act to provide for Local Defence and Special Service. 
“ Sec. 1. The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, 
That the President be and he is hereby authorized to accept the services 
of volunteers of such kind and in such proportion as he may deem ex- 
pedient, to serve for such time as he may prescribe, for the defence of 
exposed places or localities, or such special service as he may deem ex- 
pedient. 
Sec. 2. And such forces shall be mustered into the service of the Con- 
federate States for the local defence or special service aforesaid, the mus- 
ter roll setting forth distinctly the services to be performed; and the said 
volunteers shall not be considered in actual service, until thereunto spe- 
cially ordered by the President; and they shall be entitled to pay or sub- 
sistence only for such time as they may be on duty under the orders of 
the President, or by his direction. 
Sec. 3. Such volunteer forces, when so accepted and ordered into ser- 
vice, shall be organized in accordance with and subject to all the provi- 
sions of the act entitled an act to provide for the public defence, approved 
•March 6th, 1861, and may be attached to such divisions, brigades, regi- 3 
ments or battalions as tbe President may direct; and when not organised 
into battalions or regiments before being mustered into service, the Presi- 
dent shall appoint the field officers of the battalions or regiments, when 
organised as such by him.” [Approved August 21st, 1861.] 
order. 
S. COOPER, 
Adjutant and Inspector General,