GENERAL ORDERS, 
No. 73. 
WAR DEPARTMENT, 
Adjutant General’s Office, 
Washington, September 7, 1861. 
1.. Paragraph 152 of the Army Regulations, ed. 18G1, in relation 
to the reward to be paid for the apprehension of deserters, is so far 
modified as to substitute Five instead of Thirty Dollars as the amount 
to be paid in such cases. 
II-.That portion of General Orders No. 15, current series, from this 
Office, whicli prescribes one Major for a Regiment of Cavalry, has been 
so far modified as to allow three Majors for a regiment of twelve 
companies and two for one of eight or ten companies. 
111.. The attention of Officers, and all others having business with 
the War Department or its different Bureaux, is called to the excessive 
use of the telegraph in cases where it is entirely unnecessary, and in 
which the business would be much more certainly and correctly trans- 
acted through the mail. A large majority of the telegrams received 
are of this character, whilst the telegraph should be used only in cases 
of urgent and imperative necessity, where the delay of the mail would 
be actually predjudicial to the public interest. No despatches will be 
noticed here unless this necessity is recognised, and in such cases they 
will be paid for by the party sending them, who may look for re- 
muneration to the Quartermaster’s Department, on presenting a copy 
of the telegram to show that it was upon public business and that the 
matter demanded this mode of communication. 
IV..Hereafter, no discharges will be granted to volunteers in the 
service of the United States on the ground of minority. 
By order : 
L. THOMAS, 
Adjutant General. 
Official : 
Assistant Adjutant General.