The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 4, Volume 3. Page: 208

                                
208                    CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.
Department relative to its execution are published for the informa-
tion of those concerned:
AN ACT to increase the efficiency of the Army by the employment of free negroes and slaves in
certain capacities.
Whereas, the efficiency of the Army is greatly diminished by the withdrawal
from the ranks of able-bodied soldiers to act as teamsters, and in various other
capacities in which free negroes and slaves might be advantageously employed:
Therefore,
The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact,. That all male free
negroes and other free persons of color, not including those who are free under
the treaty of Paris of eighteen hundred and three, or under the treaty with Spain
of eighteen hundred and nineteen, resident in the Confederate States, between the
ages of eighteen and fifty years, shall be held liable to perform such duties with
the Army, or in connection with the military defenses of the country, in the way
of work upon fortifications or in Government works for the production or prepa-
ration of material of war, or in military hospitals, as The Secretary of War or
the commanding general of the Trans-Mississippi Department may, from time to
time, prescribe, and while engaged in the performance of such duties shall receive
rations and clothing and compensation at the rate of eleven dollars a month,
under such rules and regulations as the said Secretary may establish: Provided,
That the Secretary of War or the commanding general of the Trans-Mississippi
Department, with the approval of the President, may exempt from the operations
of this act such free negroes as the interests of the country may require should
be exempted, or such as he may think proper to exempt, on grounds of justice,
equity, or necessity.
SEC. 2. That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized to employ for duties
similar to those indicated in the preceding section of this act, as many male negro
slaves, not to exceed twenty thousand, as in his judgment, the wants of the service
may require, furnishing them, while so employed, with proper rations and cloth-
ing, under rules and regulations to be established by him, and paying to the own-
ers of said slaves such wages as may be agreed upon with said owners for their
use and service, and in the event of the loss of any slaves while so employed, by
the act of the enemy, or by escape to the enemy, or by death inflicted by the
enemy, or by disease contracted while in any service required of said slaves, then
the owners of the same shall be entitled to receive the full value of such slaves, to
be ascertained by agreement or by appraisement, under the law regulating impress-
ments, to be paid under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of War may
establish.
SEc. 3. That when the Secretary of War shall be unable to procure the service
of slaves in any military department in sufficient numbers for the necessities of
the Department, upon the terms and conditions set forth in the preceding section,
then he is hereby authorized to impress the services of as many male slaves, not
to exceed twenty thousand, as may be required, from time to time, to discharge
the duties indicated in the first section of this act, according to laws regula-
ting the impressment of slaves in other cases : Provided, That slaves so impressed
shall, while employed, receive the same rations and clothing, in kind and quan-
tity, as slaves regularly hired from their owners; and, in the event of their loss,
shall be paid for in the same manner and under the same rules established by the
said impressment laws: Provided, That if the owner have but one male slave
between the age of eighteen and fifty, he shall not be impressed against the will
of said owner : Provided further, That free negroes shall be first impressed, and
if there should be a deficiency, it shall be supplied by the impressment of slaves
according to the foregoing provisions: Provided further, That in making the
impressment, not more than one of every five male slaves between the ages of
eighteen and forty-five shall be taken from any owner, care being taken to allow
in each case a credit for all slaves who may have been already impressed under
this act, and who are still in service, or have died or been lost while in service.
And all impressments under this act shall be taken in equal ratio from all owners
in the same locality, city, county or district.
THOMAS S. BOCOCK,
Speaker House of Representatives.
R. M. T. HUNTER,
President pro term. of the Senate.

Approved February 17, 1864.

JEFFERSON DAVIS.