OF THE CALLED SESSION, 1863, AND OF THE THIRD REGULAR ANNUAL SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF ALABAMA, HELD IN THE CITY OF MONTGOMERY, COMMENCING ON THE 17TH DAY OF AUGUST AND THE 2D MONDAY IN NOVEMBER, 1863. JOHN GILL SHORTER, Governor until Deo. 1st, 1863. THOMAS H. WATTS, Governor. WALTER H. CRENSHAW, Speaker House Representatives. ROBERT JEMISON, Jr., President of the Senate until Aug. 24, 1863. MONTGOMERY, ALA.: SAFFOLD & FIGURES, STATE PRINTERS. 1864. LAWS OF ALABAMA. ACTS OF THE CALLED SESSION. No. 1.] AN ACT To Reorganize the Militia of the State of Alabama, SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Alabama in General Assem bly convened, That cach county in the State shall constitute a separate military district, and it shall be the duty of the Governor, as soon as practicable after the passage of this act, to appoint a special Aid-de-Camp in each district who shall be charged with the duties hereinafter set forth. County Aids. SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That within four days after being notified of his appointment, it shall be the Enumeration. duty of each special aid to commence the enumeration of all free white males resident of his county, who are or shall be of the age of sixteen years and not over sixty years of age, except those who shall actually be in the. army or navy of the Confederate States. The enumeration shall be by beats, and shall show the age and occu pation of each person enumerated, the number of the beat in which he may reside, and if any exemption is claimed, the ground of it. For the purpose of facilitat- Aids to appoint ing the enumeration, the special aid shall be authorized a to employ three or more assistants, who shall receive for i their services compensation at the rate of fifty cents for each person enumerated by them. For a failure faithfully to discharge their duties without a sufficient excuse, to be judged of by the Governor, the assistant enumer J44477 assistants. Penalty for fail Classes. Class One. Class Two. ating officer shall forfeit all compensation, and shall in addition be guilty of a misdemeanor, upon conviction of which, they shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars, and imprisoned in the county jail not less than one nor longer than nine months, at the discretion of the jury trying the same. SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the special aid within five days after the enumeration has been completed in his county, to divide the entire list of persons so enumerated into two classes. Class number one shall be composed, 1st, of all persons under the age of seventeen years: : 2d, all persons over the age of forty-five years: 3d, all officers belonging to the executive, legislative or judicial departments of the Confederate States of America and of the State of Alabama and 4th, all persons who shall be certified by a board of surgeons, as hereinafter provided, to be unfit for service in the second class hereinafter mentioned, but fit for service in said first class. Class number two shall consist of all enumerated persons except those enumer ated in class number one, and of such persons in class number one as may choose to enumerate themselves in class number two, which they are authorized to do. In all cases of doubt as to the age of parties who may be enumerated, the question shall be decided by the special aid of the county, upon the affidavit of the person whose age may be in question, and upon such other evidence as Lists to be made. may be adduced. It shall be the duty of the special aid to file one copy of these lists in the office of the Probate Judge of his county, and to forward duplicate copies to the office of the Adjutant General of the militia. The special aid shall also be empowered when there are but a few persons enumerated in a particular beat, to incor-" porate and consolidate two or more adjacent beats into one, and to define the boundaries of beats when they are not sufficiently defined or understood, and provided, that the special aid for the county shall be empowered for the purposes of this act, to define said beat lines, and may combine the beats when in his judgment the beats so combined shall be too small to admit of organization: Exemptions. Provided further, the Governor may exempt any portion of the State from the operation of this act, as to the first class, whenever he thinks proper, and for any length of time he deems fit: And provided further, That the persons composing the first class named in this act residing in the first, second and third congressional districts of Beats to be consolidated. " the State, be and the same are hereby exempted from the operations of this act: And provided further, That nothing contained in the preceding proviso shall prevent the enumeration of the persons in the first class. Elections. "SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, That the special aid in each county shall, as soon as he has completed the Organization. enumeration and classification hereinbefore provided for, proceed to organize the two classes of persons so enumerated, in the manner following, to-wit: He shall issue writs of election to the Sheriff, requiring all persons embraced in class number two to hold an election on a day specified by him, not more than ten days from the issue of such writs, for a Commandant of the county corps of the State militia, and also, at the same time and place, an election for the Commandants of the Beat squads of the State Militia. He shall, at the same, time, issue writs of election requiring all persons embraced in class number one to hold an election on a day specified by him (which shall be a different day from that on which the election is held by class number two, and not more than ten days from the issue of such writs), for a County Commandant of Reserves." and also, at the same time and place, an election for Beat Commandants of Peserves. The election shall be held in the same manner, and under the same regulations as govern the election of Representatives in the lower House of the State Legislature; Provided, That no one shall vote at said elections without the beat in which he may reside, and no person embraced in one class shall be allowed to vote at the election for Commandants of the other; And provided further, That in all cases of a tie, the casting vote shall be given by the Special Aid for the county. The returns of all elec- Returns. tions hereinbefore ordered, shall be made to the Special Aid for the county, who shall ascertain and report without delay, to the Governor the names of the officers so elected, and it shall be the duty of the Governor to commission the officers so reported as follows: Where the number of persons enumerated in either Rank of Officers class shall be six hundred or upwards, the commandant shall be commissioned as Colonel; where the number shall be four hundred and less than six hundred, the commandant shall be commissioned as Lieutenant Colonel; where the number shall be two hundred and less than four hundred the commandant shall be commissioned as Major; where the number is eighty and Casting vote. |