GENERAL ORDERS, 
No. 196. 
WAR DEPARTMENT, 
Adjutant General’s Office, 
Washington, June 29, 1863. 
The number of Brigadier Generals being limited by law, the urgent 
necessity for officers of that grade in the field requires that all, except 
those wounded in battle, whose health is so infirm as to have kept 
them from active duty more than thirty days, should be mustered out, 
and their places filled by others physically capable of service. It is 
therefore ordered— 
1st. That all officers of the rank of Brigadier General who have 
been absent more than thirty days from duty on account of sickness, 
other than those wounded in battle, report the present state of their 
health; and that those who report themselves unfit for duty in the field, 
be honorably mustered out of service wdthin ten days from this date. 
2d. That those who do not report unfit for duty, proceed, within 
forty-eight hours after the receipt of this order, to join their commands, 
informing the Adjutant General by letter of the fact. 
3d. That those who have been absent more than thirty days, by 
reason of wounds received in battle, report when they expect to be 
aDle to resume duty, sending a surgeon's certificate setting forth the 
nature of their wounds and their present condition. 
By order of the Secretary of War: 
E.- D. TOWNSEND, 
Assistant Adjutant General.