GENERAL ORDERS, 
No. 208. 
WAR DEPARTMENT, 
ADJUTANT GENERAL’S OFFICE. 
Washington, June 6, 1864. 
All buildings and structures of whatever kind, or tents in the pos- 
session of the authorities of the United States, are to be regarded, 
for the time being, as the property of the government, and are to be 
used and accounted for as such. Officers or enlisted men quartered 
in such structures or tents in the possession of the United States, no 
matter whether confiscated, or merely seized and possessed by gov- 
ernment authority, are deemed to be furnished with quarters by the 
government. No such officer or enlisted man is, therefore, entitled 
to commutation of fuel and quarters, and any commutation, 
paid in such cases, will be immediately refunded. Officers of the 
Quartermaster’s Department who have paid commutation in such 
cases, or to any officer serving personally in the field, will imme- 
diately report the amount, time, and place of such payments, and 
the names of those to whom they have been made, to the Paymaster 
General, in order that they may be deducted on the accounts of 
those who have received them. 
It shall, hereafter, be the duty of all Inspecting officers to examine 
into and report upon all matters connected with the execution of 
this order. 
order of the Secretary of War : 
E. D. TOWNSEND, 
Assistant Adjutant General. 
Official : 
Assistant Adjutant General.