Publication: The Charleston Mercury
Date: December 9, 1861
H.L. PinckneyTitle: THE NEW MILITARY LAW
THE NEW MILITARY LAW.
We are enabled this morning to lay before our readers the
important bill in relation to the militia and patrol laws of
the State of South Carolina, as finally amended and adopted by
the Legislature on Saturday last:
A BILL TO AMEND AND SUSPEND CERTAIN PORTIONS OF
THE MILITIA AND PATROL LAWS OF THIS STATE.
SEC. 1. Be in enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and
by the authority of the same, That all free while males between
the ages of sixteen and sixty, shall be liable to perform
ordinary militia duty, during the existence of the war between
the Confederate and United States of America, except the
persons exempt from all militia service, and except the members
of both branches of the General Assembly, and their respective
officers; all regular officiating ministers; all regular
licensed practicing physicians; the faculty and officers in
the South Carolina College; professor in other incorporated
colleges, and in theological schools; school-masters having
under their tuition not less than fifteen scholars, and all
students at schools, academies, and colleges; all branch
pilots; one white man to each established ferry, toll bridge,
and toll grain mill, if actually kept by such white man; the
president, cashier and teller, of the several banks of the
State; the officers and men of the city guard and fire
departments of Charleston and Columbia; the officers and
employees of all railroad companies; the Superintendent and
keepers of the Lunatic Asylum; the keepers of the arsenals of
the State; all persons holding office under the Confederate
States, and the officers and cadets of the Military Academy.
And that all said males, from the ages of sixteen to sixty,
shall be liable to perform patrol duty, and shall be subject to
be ordered by the Governor and Commander-in-Chief to perform
military service in their respective brigades.
SEC. 2. That so much of the one hundred and forty-eighth
section of an Act entitled "An Act to reduce all Acts and
clauses of Acts in relation to the militia of this State to one
Act, and to alter and amend the same,"as limits the terms of
service of the militia, when drafted, to three months within
this State and two months out of the State, be and the same is
hereby suspended, during the said war; and that during such
suspension, the commander-in-Chief may call out any portion of
the militia of this State, from the ages of eighteen to
forty-five, except those exempt by this Act from militia
service, for twelve months, unless sooner discharged, for
service either in this State or any of the Confederate States:
Provided, That on his ordering a draft the companies (beat or
volunteer) of the militia shall be allowed to furnish the quota
required of them by volunteers of actual service.
SEC. 3. That the companies shall furnish their quota of
volunteers of drafted men in proportion to their relative
number liable to a draft by the provisions of this Act, and be
exempted from such call to the extent of the number of
volunteers they have already furnished, and who are then in the
military service of this State or the Confederate States, or
who shall have served at least twelve months in such service:
Provided, That no company shall be reduced by drafting below
the number of fifteen: and Provided, further, That it may be
lawful for any one so drafted to tender to the commander of the
regiment a capable substitute, and upon his being received, the
person drafted shall be excused from going into actual service,
but shall be liable to perform ordinary militia and patrol
duty.
SEC. 4. That all troops thus raised, whether volunteers or
drafted men, for the term of twelve months'service, shall be
organized by the Commander-in-Chief into companies and
regiments or battalions, by ordering forthwith elections for
their company and field officers, conforming in said
organizations to the laws, rules and regulations of the
Confederate States. And all volunteers for a longer period of
service, shall be separately organized in a similar manner.
SEC. 5. That all Acts prohibiting the reduction of beat
companies below the number of fifty men, and all Acts imposing
penalties for default of service in the militia organization of
this State, be, and the same are hereby, suspended as to all
persons who may volunteer in the service of this State or the
Confederate States, in the war aforesaid.
SEC. 6. That Acts and clauses of Act prohibiting persons
from being eligible to office, by reason of not holding
commissions, in any battalion, regiment, brigade or division,
be, and the same are hereby suspended during the said war, and
that any person, during suspension, shall be eligible to any of
said offices; and that laws requiring more than ten days'
notice for any military election be also suspended during the
same time; and that any time within ten days shall be
sufficient notice for any such election in the militia and
volunteer service of this State; and in default of such
election, the Governor shall forthwith fill the office by
appointment.
SEC. 7. That all persons required to perform ordinary
militia duty shall be called out for company muster and drill
at least once in every two weeks; and, in case of default, to
be liable to the same fines and forfeitures now provided by
law.
SEC. 8. That the commissions of all officers of beat
companies, battalions and regiments of the militia of this
State, not called into actual service, and those in actual
service when relieved, be and the same are hereby, vacated as
soon as new elections, can be had to fill said officers so
vacated, except the volunteer corps of the city of Charleston
attached to the Fourth Brigade; and all volunteer companies in
the State, not now having the number of officers,
non-commissioned officers and privates, required by law, except
those in actual service, or already ordered into actual
service, be, and the same are hereby, dissolved; and that all
persons liable to do ordinary militia duty under this Act, and
patrol duty under the provisions of this Act, or under any Act,
shall be entitled to vote in all company, battalion and
regiment elections.
SEC. 9. That upon any proclamation or order from, the
Governor and Commander-in-Chief, calling for troops, the
commandant of each militia regiment, not excepted in this Act,
shall forthwith assemble his command at the usual muster
ground, and proceed to execute the requisitions thereof; and
that officers commanding beats or volunteer militia companies,
and if there be no such commissioned officers, then some
suitable person, appointed by the commandant of the regiment,
shall forthwith take, or cause to be taken, a census of all
person liable to militia duty under this Act, residing within
their respective beats, and make out a roll of the same, and
also separate rolls of those between eighteen and forty-five,
and of those who have volunteered from said beats, and are in
the service of this State or of the Confederate States, and
shall return copies of said rolls to the commandant of the
regiment, and to the Adjutant and Inspector General of the
State; and for default in making said returns within ten days
after being required to do so by the order of any superior
officer, they shall each be liable to a fine of fifty dollars,
to be imposed, and recovered as provided for by the militia
laws of this State.
SEC. 10. That immediately after the passage of this Act,
it shall be the duty of the Adjutant and Inspector General, and
he is hereby required, to issue an order for elections to fill
all offices in the various companies and regiments, battalions
or squadrons, of the militia of this State, which orders shall
be published in the newspapers of this State, and thereupon the
commanding officers of said corps shall extend said order to
their respective commands; and said elections shall be
conducted in the manner provided by the militia laws of this
State, and in the time required by said orders; and the
managers of said elections shall forthwith return the result
thereof in writing to the commandant of the regiment, who shall
immediately transmit a copy of the same to the Adjutant and
Inspector-General.
SEC. 11. That the corporate limits of any town, containing
not less than five hundred nor more than two thousand five
hundred inhabitants, including slaves and free persons of
color, shall constitute a separate militia beat and it shall be
the duty of the inhabitants of all such towns corporate, who
are liable to militia duty, under the provision of this Act, to
organize themselves into a company, to be attached to the
regiment in which such town is situate, unless any such town is
divided by regimental lines, in which case the company therein
organized may elect the regiment to which they shall be
attached; and the companies, thus organized, shall be subject
to all the provisions of this Act, as other militia beat
companies.
SEC. 12. That the companies which have been accepted by
the Governor, or may be accepted by him, under the resolution
passed at the called session of this General Assembly, shall
not be subject to the call for volunteers, or to the draft
hereinbefore provided for, but shall be organized by him, in
pursuance of said resolution, into regiments, battalions, or
squadrons.
SEC. 13. That the Quartermaster General and Commissary
General of this State shall each be entitled to one assistant,
with the rank and pay of Captain of Infantry, and as many other
assistants, with the pay of 1st Sergeant, as the Governor may
deem necessary for the efficient administration of their
departments; and that the Adjutant and Inspector General shall
be allowed, if deemed necessary by the Governor, to employ a
clerk at a sum not exceeding sixty dollars per month.
SEC. 14. That the troops raised within the limits of the
4th military division, and organized under the name of the Pee
Dee Legion, be, and the same are hereby exempted from, the
operation of this Act; Provided, they shall, within twenty
days from the notification hereof, file, in the office of the
Adjutant and Inspector-General, a roll of such companies as may
be willing to be mustered into Confederate service, under the
provisions of an Act of the Confederate Congress, entitled, "An
Act to provide of local defence and special service, approved
the 21st day of August, in the year of our Lord 1861, and
shall, in the meantime, continue in the service in which they
are now employed; and Provided, that such troops as shall not
be mustered into Confederate service as aforesaid, shall be
subject to all the provisions of this Act.
SEC. 15. That every person liable to military duty under
the provisions of this Act, who shall make default when
summoned into actual service, shall be liable to such
punishment, short of death, as may be imposed by a court
martial, according to the articles of war of the Confederate
States; said court to be convened by the officer commanding the
regiment to which the delinquent shall belong, who is hereby
authorized to order said court in conformity with the usages of
the army of the Confederate States.
SEC. 16. That all Acts and clauses of Acts, in relation to
the militia of this State, consistent with the provisions of
this Act, shall continue of full force and effect; and all
Acts and clauses of Acts inconsistent with the provisions of
this Act, be, and the same are hereby suspended during the
continuance of this Act.
In the Senate House, the 7th day of December, 1861, and
86th year of the sovereignty and independence of the State of
South Carolina.
(Signed)W. D. PORTER,
President Senate.
J. SIMONS,
Speaker House of Representatives.
