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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journal of the Confederate Congress --THIRD DAY--WEDNESDAY, August 20, 1862.
OPEN SESSION.
The House met pursuant to adjournment, and was opened with prayer by the Rev. Bishop Early.
Mr. Curry presented the petition of sundry, citizens of Calhoun County, Ala., asking the prohibition of Sunday mails: which was referred to the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads, without being read.
Mr. Pugh offered
A resolution instructing the Committee on Military Affairs to inquire into the expediency of authorizing the punishment of commissioned officers in the Provisional Army as deserters who may be absent from their post without competent military authority, and to report by bill or otherwise;
which was agreed to.
Also, a resolution that the Committee on Military Affairs be instructed to inquire into the expediency of reducing the list of exempts from the military service of the Confederate States, and to report by bill or otherwise; which was read and agreed to.
Also, a resolution instructing the Committee on Military Affairs to inquire into the propriety of authorizing the generals in the Provisional Army to accept the resignation of company and field officers without reference to any higher military authority, and to report by bill or otherwise; which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Hanly offered the following resolution; which was read and agreed to, to wit:
Resolved, That the Doorkeeper be, and he is hereby, authorized to purchase for the use of this House during the present session a sufficient quantity of stationery, to be paid for out of the contingent fund provided by same.
Mr. Hilton offered
A resolution that the injunction of secrecy from all the proceedings of this House at its last session be, and the same is hereby, removed; which was laid on the table.
Mr. Holt offered
A resolution that the Committee on Military Affairs be instructed to prepare and report a bill regulating and rendering fixed and certain the manner in which substitutes may be received into the Army; which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Gartrell offered a resolution instructing the Committee on Military Affairs to inquire into the propriety of repealing all laws authorizing substitutes in the Army, and report by bill or otherwise; which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Munnerlyn presented the petition of the members of the Baptist Church at Albany, Ga., in relation to Sunday mails; which was referred to the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Roads, without being read.
Mr. Wright of Georgia introduced
A bill to complete the Georgia and Alabama Railroad as a military necessity;
which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
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Mr. Clark offered the following resolutions:
Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the Speaker to investigate the management of the military hospitals in the Department of Henrico, to ascertain if any abuses exist, and to report what action, if any, is necessary to be taken by Congress to effect a correction of the same.
Resolved, That said committee have power to send for persons and papers, and to visit the said hospitals during the sessions of this House;
which were read and agreed to.
Mr. Lewis offered
A resolution that the Committee on Commerce be instructed to inquire what legislation, if any, is necessary to prevent abuses in the execution of the law providing for the burning of cotton and other crops to prevent them falling into the hands of the enemy.
Mr. Trippe moved to amend the same by striking out the word "Commerce" and inserting in lieu thereof the words "Military Affairs;" which motion was lost, and the resolution was agreed to.
Mr. E. M. Bruce offered the following resolution:
Resolved, That the Committee on Naval Affairs be instructed to report, at the earliest day practicable, as to the propriety and expediency of amending all laws relative to privateering, waiving the filing of minute descriptive lists of the owners, officers, crew, and vessels, as now required by law, before the issuance of commissions to privateersmen. And also as to the propriety of encouraging privateering and the destruction of vessels and cargoes of the enemy at sea when impracticable and impossible to reach any port or ports for the condemnation and sate of vessels and goods so captured by the payment to the privateers for the goods so destroyed the same amount the said privateers could have realized if permitted to enter any port or ports for the condemnation and sale; and also as to the evidence necessary to justify payment, and the most practicable manner of paying such privateers; and report by bill or otherwise;
which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Chrisman offered
A joint resolution of thanks to John H. Morgan and the officers and men under his command;
which was read the first and second times.
The rules were suspended;
The resolution was taken up, engrossed, read a third time, and passed unanimously.
Mr. Machen offered the following resolution; which was read and agreed to, to wit:
Resolved, That the Secretary of War be requested to furnish this House with the number of Confederate troops of every description now in the field and in camps of instruction, designating as nearly as may be the number in each arm of the service. That he also inform this House of the number of soldiers enrolled under the "conscription act," and from what States they have been drawn; and whether the enrollment under said act has been completed in any or all of the Confederate States.
Mr. Read introduced
A bill in relation to the transfer of troops;
which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
Mr. Conrad offered
A resolution instructing the Committee on Naval Affairs to inquire into the expediency of abolishing the office of Secretary of the Navy, and investing the powers and duties thereof in the Secretary of War.
Mr. Foster moved that the resolution be laid on the table.
The motion was lost, and the resolution was agreed to.
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Mr. Ayer offered the following resolution:
Resolved, That a committee, to consist of one member from each State, be appointed by the Speaker to consider and report to this House on the matter of allowing just and equitable compensation to the district collectors of the war tax;
which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Farrow offered the following resolution:
Whereas it is important, whilst preparing for raising additional troops, that the lives, health, and comfort of those already in the service be preserved as far as possible; and
Whereas the practice of sending sick and wounded soldiers indiscriminately to hospitals is productive not only of great inconvenience to the friends of such sick and wounded, but often of increased suffering, inattention, and neglect to such sick and wounded themselves: Therefore,
Resolved, That the committee of five be, and they are hereby, instructed to prepare and report a bill having for its object the securing and the assigning of appropriate hospital accommodations to the soldiers from each of the States in such manner as shall cause the sick and wounded from each of the respective States, and from the different sections of each of the States, to be collected together as nearly adjacent to each other as possible;
which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Miles introduced
A joint resolution providing for the publication of the proceedings of the convention which framed the Provisional and Permanent Constitutions and the Journal of the Provisional Congress;
which was read the first and second times and referred to the Committee on Printing.
Also, a petition from the bishop of the Protestant Episcopal ChurCh in South Carolina, and other professors in the Theological Seminary of the same, asking exemption of candidates for the ministry from military service, etc.; which was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs, without being read.
Mr. Swan offered
A joint resolution declaring Benjamin F. Butler an enemy to the human race;
which was read the first and second times.
Mr. Swan moved that the rule requiring its reference to a committee be suspended.
The motion was lost, and the resolution was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
On motion of Mr. Jones of Tennessee, the Committee on Ways and Means were excused from the further consideration of the petition of M. McCurry, asking increased pay for collecting the war tax; and the same was referred to the Special Committee on the War Tax.
Mr. Menees offered
A resolution that the President be requested to direct the transmission to this House of the official reports of all the battles and engagements with the enemy which have occurred since the adjournment of Congress or from which reports have been since that time received, and the reports thus transmitted include the reports of the generals, major-generals, and brigadier-generals engaged;
which was read and agreed to.
Mr. Heiskell offered
A resolution that the President be requested to communicate to this House how many troops have been enrolled under the conscription act; how many regiments of the existing Army have been filled up;
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how many remain not filled up; whether any and what new regiments have been raised since said act, and under what authority; whether the operation of said act has been suspended in any part of the Confederate States not occupied by the enemy and by what authority;
which was read and agreed to.
Also, the following resolution:
Resolved, That the Speaker of this House appoint the following committees:
Also, a joint resolution to secure the prompt publication of reports of engagements with the enemy;
which was read the first and second times and, on motion of Mr. Gartrell, was laid upon the table.
Mr. Sexton introduced
A bill to increase the pay of privates and noncommissioned officers in the Army of the Confederate States:
which was read the first and second times, and the rules being suspended, was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time.
Mr. Foote moved that the House reconsider the vote by which the engrossment of the bill was ordered.
Upon which motion Mr. Sexton called for the question.
The call being sustained, the reconsideration was ordered; and
On motion of Mr. Bonham, the bill was referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
On motion of Mr. Boyce,
The House then adjourned until 12 o'clock to-morrow.
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