SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That section one of the "Act providing for the better organization of the military establishment," approved August third, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, authorizing the President to appoint an Assistant Secretary of War, be. and the same is hereby, repealed. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That so much of the act entitled "An act to increase and fix the military peace establishment of the United States," approved July twenty-eight, eighteen hundred and sixty-six, as relates to the promotion of assistant surgeons after three years' service, shall be amended so as to read “and persons who have served as surgeons or assistant surgeons three years in the volunteer force shall be eligible for promotion to the grade of captain." SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That the act entitled "An act more effectually to provide for the national defence by establishing an uniform militia throughout the United States, approved May eight, seventeen hundred and ninety-two, and the several acts amendatory thereof, be, and they are hereby, amended, by striking out the word "white." SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That (excepting the ordnance storekeeper and paymaster at the Springfield Armory, who has the rank, pay, and allowances of a major of cavalry) all storekeepers of the army shall hereafter have the rank, pay, and allowances of captains of cavalry; and the post chaplains now in service, or hereafter to be appointed, shall be commissioned by the President; and all vacancies occurring in the grade of chaplain, which is hereby established to rank as captain of infantry, shall be filled by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; and all army chaplains shall hereafter be on the same footing as to tenure of office, retirement, allowances for service and pensions, as now provided by law for other officers of the army. SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That in any case where a person entitled to receive payment of bounty under the provisions of any law shall make application therefor, or where such application shall be made by the proper representatives of such person, being deceased, and the discharge of such person has been lost, it shall be competent for the accounting officers to receive, in lieu of the actual production of such discharge, proof of the actual loss of the same, and secondary proof of its issue and contents, together with proof of the identity of the claimant or person deceased, under such rules defining the character and form of the evidence as the Paymaster General shall prescribe. SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That section fifteen of the "Act to increase the present military establishment of the United States, and for other purposes," approved July fifth, eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, be amended so that general officers shall not hereafter be excluded from receiving the additional ration for every five years' service; and it is hereby further provided that officers on the retired list of the army shall have the same allowance of additional rations for every five years' service as officers in active service. Approved, March 2, 1867. BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR: E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant General. OFFICIAL: Assistant Adjutant General. GENERAL ORDERS, No. 10. HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, I..The following Act of Congress is published for the information and government of all concerned: [PUBLIC-No. 68. ] AN ACT to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel States. WHEREAS no legal State governments or adequate protection for life or property now exists in the rebel States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas; and whereas it is necessary that peace and good order should be enforced in said States until loyal and republican State governments can be legally established: Therefore Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That said rebel States shall be divided into military districts and made subject to the military authority of the United States as hereinafter prescribed; and for that purpose Virginia shall constitute the first district; North Carolina and South Carolina the second district; Georgia, Alabama, and Florida the third district; Mississippi and Arkansas the fourth district; and Louisiana and Texas the fifth district. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the President to assign to the command of each of said districts an officer of the army not below the rank of brigadier general, and to detail a sufficient military force to enable such officer to perform his duties and enforce his authority within the district to which he is assigned. SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of each officer assigned as aforesaid to protect all persons in their rights of person and property, to suppress insurrection, disorder, and violence, and to punish, or cause to be punished, all disturbers of the public peace and criminals, and to this end he may allow local civil tribunals to take jurisdiction of and to try offenders, or, when in his judgment it may be necessary for the trial of offenders, he shall have power to organize military commissions or tribunals for that purpose, and all interference, under color of State authority, with the exercise of military authority under this act, shall be null and void. SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That all persons put under military arrest by virtue of this act shall be tried without unnecessary delay, and no cruel or unusual punishment shall be inflicted; and no sentence of any military commission or tribunal hereby authorized, affecting the life or liberty of any person, shall be executed until it is approved by the officer in command of the district, and the laws and regulations for the government of the army shall not be affected by this act, except in so far as they conflict with its provisions: Provided, That no sentence of death, under the provisions of this act, shall be carried into effect without the approval of the President. SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That when the people of any one of said rebel States shall have formed a constitution of government in conformity with the Constitution of the United States in all respects, framed by a convention of delegates elected by the male citizens of said State twenty-one years old and upward, of whatever race, color, or previous condition, who have been resident in said State for one year previous to the day of such election, except such as may be disfranchised for participation in the rebellion, or for felony at common law; and when such constitution shall provide that the elective franchise shall be enjoyed by all such persons as have the qualifications herein stated for electors of delegates; and when such constitution shall be ratified by a majority of the persons voting on the question of ratification who are qualified as electors for delegates; and when such constitution shall have been submitted to Congress for examination and approval, and Congress shall have approved the same; and when said State, by a vote of its legisla ture elected under said constitution, shall have adopted the amendment to the Constitution of the United States proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and known as article fourteen; and when said article shall have become a part of the Constitution of the United States, said State shall be declared entitled to representation in Congress, and senators and representatives shall be admitted therefrom on their taking the oath prescribed by law; and then and thereafter the preceding sections of this act shall be inoperative in said State: Provided, That no person excluded from the privilege of holding office by said proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States shall be eligible to election as a member of the convention to frame a constitution for any of said rebel States, nor shall any such person vote for members of such convention, SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That until the people of said rebel States shall be by law admitted to representation in the Congress of the |