The Military exemption bill.
The following bill amending and re-enacting the 20 section of chapter 21 of the Code of, Virginia, respecting persons exempt from all Military duties and providing the mode of exemption, was passed by the General Assembly Tuesday last.Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that the 21 section of the 22d chapter of the Code be amended and re-enacted so as to read as follows:
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- 1."The following persons only shall be exempt from the performance of all military duties, to wit: the Vice President of the Confederate States; the officers, judicial and executive, of the Government or the Confederate States; the members of both House of Congress and the Clerk of each House; all Custom House officers; the Lieutenant Governor; all the members of the General Assembly during the term for which they were elected or appointed; the Secretary of the Commonwealth and his clerks; the Clerks of the House of Delegates and Senate; the Judges of the Court of Appeals and Circuit Courts, the Clerk of each of said Courts, and of each County and Corporation Court; Judge of Hustings Court; the Sheriff of each county and the Sergeant and Collector of Taxes of each corporation having a Hustings Court, and the Commissioners of the Revenue; the Attorney General; the Treasurer; two Auditor; Register of the Land Office; Superintendent of the Penitentiary and their clerks and assistants; every Minister of the Gospel licensed to preach according to the rules or his sect, Superintendents of the Public Hospitals, Lunatic Asylums, and the regular nurses and attendants therein; and the Teachers employed in the Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and Blind; one Physician to every two thousand population, to be elected by the board hereafter constituted the President, the General Superintendent and two Local Superintendents of the Southern Telegraph, Companies, in no case to exceed four persons; the President and Superintendent of Transportation of each Railroad; the President, Secretary, and chief Collector of each Canal company. No one shall be exempt from draft by reason of his being an agent of a Commissary or Assistant Commissary, or Quartermaster, or Assistant Quarter master, whether said Commissary or Assistant Commissary, or Quartermaster or Assistant Quartermaster be in the service of the Confederate States or of this State, or by reason of his holding any office of commission in the militia, and whenever any militia officer is drafted for active service, his commission shall be vacated.
- 2: If the constituted authorities of any city shall, within twenty days after any draft has been made therefrom; apply to the Governor for the purpose, he shall exempt from actual military service any drafted person who may be at the time of the draft an officer of such city, or in its service in connexion with its gas or water works, or fire and police department. And if within twenty days after any draft the President and Superintendent of any Railroad, Canal, and Telegraph Company, shall certify, upon their honor, to the Governor, that the services of any drafted person, who is an officer or employee of such company, are necessary to the efficient operation of the said road, the Governor may, in his discretion, exempt such person from actual military service. Any persons exempted under this section shall be deemed to be detailed for duty on the post or place he filled at the time he was drafted; without pay as a soldier, and in case he shall leave the service of such city or company, he shall at once be remanded to the military service for which he was drafted. If any such person shall fall for ten days after leaving such service to report himself to the Governor or to some military officer for duty as a soldier, he shall be proceeded against as a deserter. The Governor shall promptly cause the places of all persons exempted under this section to be filled by further draft from the respective counties, cities, and towns, from which such persons were drafted. It shall be the duty of the President or Mayor of the city, or company, as the case may be, promptly to report to the Governor the name of any person so exempted who may have left the service for which he was detailed.
- 3. Immediately after the passage of this act, the Governor shall issue his proclamation, requiring the organization of a board of exemptions in each county and corporation, to consist of the presiding justice or recorder, and any two justices whom such presiding justice or recorder may associate with him. In case the presiding justice or recorder cannot for any cause act, the clerk of the hustings or county court shall summon any three justices, who shall constitute such board. Such clerk shall act as clerk of the board. In case there be no such clerk present and capable of acting, the clerk of the circuit court shall act; or the Governor may designate any three justices of the county or corporation, who shall constitute the board, and appoint their own clerk.
- 4. The board shall have cognizance of all questions of exemption, and shall adjudge the sufficiency of the excuse given by any person, who, by reason of his failure to report his name for enrollment, as required by the act entitled an act for ascertaining and enrolling the military force of the Commonwealth, passed February 8th, 1862, may have been enrolled among the drafted Leyes as prescribed in said act. For punishing contempts and compelling the attendance of witnesses, the board shall have the powers of a county court.
- 5. In no case shall the board grant a discharge upon a claim of exemption for bodily infirmity, unless at least two physicians of respectable standing, being duly sworn, shall prove before said board that the bodily infirmity is of a permanent character, and is such as will disqualify the claimant for discharging the duties of a soldier.
- 6. Every claim for exemption or excuse shall be filed with the clerk of the board, who shall issue process for such witnesses as the claimant or enrolling officer may require: and within five days after a draft is made, and on a day to be designated by the board, the trial of cases of exemption and excuse shall commence; and the same shall be disposed of in a summary manner as speedily as may be.--The clerk of the board shall promptly report to the Adjutant General the name of each person exempted or excused by the board.
- 7. For every failure to discharge any duty prescribed in this act, the members of the board and the clerk may each be fined not less than ten nor more than one hundred dollars.
- 8. All acts and ordinances in consistent with this act are hereby repealed.
- 9. This act shall be in force from its passage.
