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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 --FIFTIETH DAY--SATURDAY, January 7, 1865.
OPEN SESSION.
The House met pursuant to adjournment, and was opened with prayer by the Rev. Dr. Read.
The Speaker laid before the House a communication from the clerk, transmitting an estimate of the funds necessary to be appropriated for the pay and mileage of members; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.
Mr. De Jarnette, under a suspension of the rules, offered the following resolution; which was adopted:
Resolved, That a special committee of five be appointed by the Chair. whose duty it shall be to inquire and report what legislation, if any, is necessary and proper to relieve from the payment of taxes the people residing in such districts, towns, or counties as have been subject to depredations by the public enemy and are unable to pay the taxes assessed against them without unreasonable sacrifice.
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The House then proceeded to the consideration of the special order, viz:
The bill "to authorize the consolidation of companies, battalions, and regiments."
The question being on the motion to reconsider the vote by which the substitute of Mr. Norton for the third-section of the bill was adopted,
The yeas and nays were ordered,
So the motion to reconsider prevailed.
Mr. Bell moved that the bill and amendments be indefinitely postponed; which motion was lost.
Mr. Read moved to so amend the amendment that the organization of officers proposed shall be called the "Confederate States Legion," and not the "Confederate States Legion of Honor," as is provided by said amendment; which was agreed to.
Mr. Garland moved to strike out the clause which allows the legion to serve independently and in separate detachments; which was agreed to.
On motion of Mr. Conrad, the whole clause relative to the manner in which the legion is to serve was stricken out, so as to place it under the control of the Secretary of War and the commanding general in the same manner as any other body of troops.
Mr. Hilton offered the following proviso, viz:
These officers shall have the privilege of selecting the company and arm of the service in which they may desire to serve, whether in the army with which they are now connected or any other army of the Confederate States, and shall be entitled to transportation necessary o carry them to such company.
The yeas and nays being demanded,
Mr. Miles moved that the proposition and proposed amendment be laid upon the table.
Upon which motion the yeas and nays were ordered,
So the motion to lay on the table prevailed.
The House then proceeded to the consideration of the third section of the bill as reported by the committee.
Mr. Garland offered an amendment to the section, differing from the proposition of the committee, in that it allows the officers dropped to select the company and the arm of the service in which they desire to serve, and allows them to elect their own officers, instead of having them appointed as the bill provides; which amendment was rejected.
Mr. Hilton offered an amendment to declare definitely the privilege of joining any command, whether in the army to which they are attached or in any other army of the Confederate States, and allowing them transportation to such commands.
Mr. Miles moved to strike out that part of the amendment relating to transportation.
The motion to strike out was lost, and the amendment of Mr. Hilton was agreed to.
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Mr. Keeble offered an amendment giving such officers as join the Army as privates the same pay as they received before being dropped.
Mr. Gray offered a substitute for the amendment, continuing their pay as officers for one year only; which was adopted.
The question was then taken on the proviso as amended, and the same was rejected.
The question recurring on the substitute offered by Mr. Villeré for the third section,
Mr. Miles called the question; which was ordered, and the substitute was rejected.
Mr. Perkins offered a substitute for the third section, proposing to continue rank and pay to such officers as may be thrown out.
Mr. Anderson called the question; which was ordered, and the substitute of Mr. Perkins was lost.
Mr. Anderson offered a proviso to the section, prohibiting officers thus thrown out from joining any command on the opposite side of the Mississippi River from that where they are serving, unless the command to which they are attached is on the opposite side of the Mississippi from their homes.
The question being on the adoption of the proviso,
The yeas and nays were ordered,
So the proviso was rejected.
The fourth section of the bill was then taken up, which provides that officers who may be in the hands of the enemy at the time their commands were consolidated shall, within sixty days after their exchange, upon the order of the Secretary of War, appear before an examining board, and if adjudged by said board to be qualified for command in their grades may be assigned by the President to any vacancy in the consolidated organizations of which their old commands form a part, or to any duties appropriate to their grades: and granting those not so recommended the same privilege as other officers dropped in the consolidation.
Mr. Clopton offered a substitute for the section, providing that the commanding general of the army to which an officer now in the hands of the enemy may belong may, within sixty days, assign such officer to any vacancy which may exist in the consolidated command of which his old organization may form a part, and if any officer be not so assigned by the commanding general, and be not assigned to other appropriate duties by the President, he shall be dropped from the rolls, subject to the provisions of the third section.
The substitute of Mr. Clopton was adopted.
Mr. Holliday moved that the House adjourn;
Upon which the yeas and nays were ordered,
So the motion to adjourn was lost.
The fifth section being under consideration, which declares that all unassigned officers or officers without commands, including commissaries and quartermasters, except officers of the invalid Corps, shall be dropped from the rolls and be subject to the provisions of the third section,
Pending the consideration of which,
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Mr. Menees moved that the House adjourn.
The motion prevailed, and
The House adjourned until Monday morning at 11 o'clock.
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