Edward D. Townsend, Circular No. 36

KYR-0002-024-0004.xml

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Accession Number

KYR-0002-024-0004

Document Genre

Order

Repository

Kentucky Department of Military Affairs

Collection

1st - 20th Regiments Kentucky Infantry Primary Source Documents

Item Location

Box 7, Folder 1st Ky Infantry - Misc

Place of Creation

Washington, District of Columbia

Date of Creation

2 May 1864

Dates Mentioned

1864-05-02

1863

1861-05-20

1864-05-19

Edward D. Townsend, Circular No. 36, 2 May 1864, 1st - 20th Regiments Kentucky Infantry Primary Source Documents, Box 7, Folder 1st Ky Infantry - Misc, Kentucky Department of Military Affairs, Frankfort, KY. Accessed via the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Documentary Edition, discovery.civilwargovernors.org/document/KYR-0002-024-0004, (accessed November 4, 2025).

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CIRCULAR, WAR DEPARTMENT,
} ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,
No. 36. Washington, May 2, 1864.

I..To provide for certain cases of muster, which may arise at the dates the original terms of service of Volunteer organizations will expire, the following regulations are established, and announced, for the information and guidance of all concerned. Their execution will be under the supervision and direction of the Commissaries of Musters for Corps and Departments:

MUSTERS-OUT AND DISCHARGES FROM VETERAN REGIMENTS WHERE THREE-FOURTHS THEREOF HAVE RE-ENLISTED.

1. In regiments where three-fourths (3-4) of the men have re-enlisted, -- and which are therefore Veteran, -- the organization they may have at the dates of expiration of term, (see Sec. 1, General Remarks,) will be maintained, but all men who have not re-enlisted, (except those who have joined since date of original organization,) will, on said date, be mustered out and discharged the service.

The musters-out will be made by the Assistant Commissary of Musters of the Division to which the troops belong, and that officer will be held strictly accountable that the muster-out rolls are accurate, and made out in accordance with the Mustering Regulations.

A separate muster-out roll will be made, on the prescribed form, for the detachment from each company.

Particular attention is invited to the Mustering Regulations, in so far as the formal discharge paper of the Volunteer is concerned. (See Sec. 5, General Remarks.)

After the muster-out and discharge papers shall have been fully prepared, the Department or Corps Commander will cause the discharged men to be formed into detachments, under competent officers, and forward them to the States (see Sec. 6, General Remarks,) to which they respectively belong, there to be paid off promptly, under such regulations as the Paymaster General may establish.

The senior officer of each detachment will take charge of the muster-out rolls and discharge papers, and be responsible for their safety until placed in the hands of the Paymaster.

OFFICERS FOR VETERAN REGIMENTS.

2. Under Paragraph 9, of General Orders, No. 191, 1863, it is announced that officers in service whose regiments or companies may re-enlist, (now applicable to regiments or companies where three-fourths have re-enlisted,) will have their commissions and rank continued. To this end, officers will continue to serve, under existing musters, until the
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original term of their regiments shall have expired, when they will be re-mustered, under their existing commissions, for three years. To secure the back rank -- not pay -- of the grade in which they may be re-mustered, the Assistant Commissary of Musters will make the following remark upon the re-muster-in roll: "To rank from [ ], 186[ ], under Paragraph 9, General Orders, No. 191, War Department, 1863."

No provision herein will be construed as authorizing the retention in service of unfit officers. All such should be reported by the Department, or Army Commander, to the Adjutant General of the Army, with the view to their discharge.

MUSTERS-OUT OF REGIMENTS NOT VETERAN.

3. Where regiments fall under the provisions of Section 1, General Remarks, and less than three-fourths thereof have re-enlisted, the re-enlisted men and all recruits (drafted and volunteer) who have joined the regiment since the date of its original muster-in, (Section 1, General Remarks,) will be formed into one or more companies of the legal maximum standard, and officered by such officers as may be selected by the Department or Army Commander. The remainder of the regiment will then be placed en route to the State, there to be mustered out and paid off in accordance with the Mustering Regulations of the Army.

In regiments falling under the provisions of Section 2, General Remarks, and where less than three-fourths have re-enlisted, at the dates the periods of service of the respective companies expire, the men thereof entitled to discharge, and the company officers, (present and absent,) will be mustered out by the Assistant Commissary of Musters of the Division, in accordance with the rules enunciated in Section 1, of Paragraph 1. The remainder (re-enlisted men and recruits who have joined since date of original organization) will be temporarily assigned to the last company to be mustered out. When the men of all the companies entitled to discharge have thus been disposed of, the remainder will be formed into one or more companies of the legal maximum standard, and officered by such officers as may be selected by the Army or Department Commander.

II..Nothing herein will be considered as interfering with the requirements of General Orders, No. 182, series of 1863, from this Office.

GENERAL REMARKS.

III..1. Where all the companies of a regiment were mustered in within two (2) months of the date at which the organization commenced, the date of muster-out of the organization will be determined by reckoning the period of service from the date of muster-in of the last company.
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In accordance with this, if the last company of a regiment was mustered into service on the 20th of May, 1861, (that date is considered as the date of original organization and muster-in of the regiment,) the period of service of the regiment will expire May 19th, 1864, (expiration of original term,) and, at that date, all the members of the regiment, except re-enlisted ones, and those who have joined since date of original organization, should be discharged.

2. Where there is a difference of two months or more between the dates of muster-in of the first and last companies, the companies will be mustered out separately, and the field and staff reduced proportionally, and in the inverse order in which they were mustered in, under Paragraph 85, Mustering Regulations. The field officers, however, to be mustered out at each stage of the reduction, will rest with the Commander of the Army or Department. The musters-out will be made by the Assistant Commissary of Musters for the Division.

3. When troops are mustered out of service, all officers and men, present and absent, who are entitled to be discharged, will be considered as mustered out at one time and place, except prisoners of war, who will be considered as in service until their arrival in a loyal State, with an allowance of time necessary for them to be returned to their respective places of enrollment. With officers and men of this class, commanding officers of regiments and companies will exercise great care in stating, in the remarks on the muster-out rolls, the dates and places of capture, thus:
Prisoner of war. Captured at [ ], December [ ], 186[ ].

4. Officers and men absent from their commands, on detached service, sick in hospital or paroled, (after the officer under whose command they may be, has satisfied himself that their terms of service have expired,) will be furnished with transportation by the Quartermaster's Department to the place where the regiment is to be mustered out, in time to be present at the said muster. The transportation will be furnished upon the requisition of the commanding officer under whom the officer or soldier may be serving, or of the surgeon in charge of the hospital where he may be sick. The descriptive lists of the men will accompany them, and be turned over to the officer who may be charged with mustering out the force, by whom (after the data therefrom has been entered on the muster-out rolls) they will be forwarded to the Adjutant General of the Army. If from sickness, or other proper cause, enlisted men cannot be sent in time, as above directed, they will be discharged at the hospital, and their final papers there made out, under direction of the surgeon in charge, and forwarded to the commander having the power to discharge,
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as in the case of surgeon's certificate of disability. The principles announced in Paragraphs 3 and 15, Appendix "B," Revised Army Regulations, will be applied in such cases: and, with a view to determining claims for pension, all information will be given in the papers which will throw light on the nature and cause of the soldier's sickness.

5. The following extracts, from the Mustering Regulations, are published for the information and guidance of all concerned: --

"Whenever volunteers, or militia, are mustered for final discharge, on the expiration of their term of service, a discharge will be furnished for each officer and soldier, whether present or absent.

"The blanks for these must be filled with great care and neatness, and signed, with official rank affixed, (at the left land) by the Colonel or other regimental commander for the field and staff, by captains or other company commanders for their respective companies, and by the Mustering Officer, and by the Mustering Officer returned to the said commanders for delivery to the individuals."

Form of Discharge.
TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.

[Coat of Arms.]

KNOW YE, That [ ] [ ], a [ ] of Captain [ ] [ ] company [[ ]] [ ] regiment of [ ] volunteers, who was enrolled on the [ ] day of [ ], one thousand eight hundred and [ ], to serve [ ] years, or during the war, is hereby DISCHARGED from the service of the United States, this [ ] day of [ ], 186[ ], at [ ], by reason (of being mustered out of service on the expiration of his term.) *No objection to his being re-enlisted is known to exist.*

<< *This sentence will be erased, should there be anything in the conduct or physical condition of the soldier rendering him unfit for duty in the army. >

Said [ ] [ ] was born in [ ], in the State of [ ], is [ ] years of age, [ ] feet [ ] inches high, [ ] complexion, [ ] eyes, [ ] hair, and by occupation, when enrolled, a [ ].

GIVEN at [ ], this [ ] day of [ ], 186[ ].
[ ] [ ],
Commanding Company (or Regiment.)

A. B.,

Capt. [ ] U. S. Infantry and Mustering Officer.

"Where troops are mustered out of service, final statements must not
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be given. The muster-out rolls take the place of final statements in such cases."

6. As a general rule, in returning troops to their States for muster-out, they will be sent to the points, therein, where they were mustered in, there to be met by Mustering Officers and Paymasters.

7. To hasten the muster-out of troops, it is hereby made the duty of regimental and company commanders, under the direction of the Commissary of Musters of the Corps or Department and Assistant Commissary of Musters for the Division, to look after the data necessary for the preparation of the muster-out rolls. To this end it is directed that each company commander shall have the muster-out roll of his company, or such men thereof as are to be discharged, made out in rough, so that it can be quickly arranged, and a fair copy made at the required time.

8. As the interest of an enlisted man is always prejudiced, if his record on the rolls is imperfect, Mustering Officers and Paymasters will promptly report all officers who may neglect to have the rolls of their regiments and companies accurately made, with a view to their being recommended for dismissal from the service.

IV... In mustering out independent companies and batteries or fractional parts thereof, the principles, so far as applicable, laid down herein for regiments, will be observed. Questions which may arise relative thereto, will be decided by Department and Army Commanders.

BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR:
E. D. TOWNSEND,
Assistant Adjutant General.

OFFICIAL:

Assistant Adjutant General.

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