1. SECTION I. Be it enacted, &c., That each Senatorial District in this 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 an Aid-de-Camp with the rank of Colonel, in each district, who shall be charged with the duties hereinafter set forth.

2. SEC. II. Be it further enacted, That within four days after being notified of his appointment, it shall be the duty of each Aid-de-Camp to commence the enrollment of all free white males resident in his District, who are or shall be of the age of sixteen years, and not over sixty years, and also, those who shall from time to time arrive at the age of sixteen years, or who may come to reside within the District, except those who shall actually be in the Army or Navy of the Confederate States, or in the State service. The enrollment shall be by Company Districts, and shall show the age, occupation and nativity of each person enrolled, the number of the Company District in which he may reside, and if any exemption is claimed, the ground of it.
For the purpose of facilitating the enrollment, the Aids-de-Camp shall be authorized to employ with the approval of the Governor, three or more assistants for each county, who shall receive for their services, compensation, at the rate of fifty cents for each person enrolled by them; but they shall not be exempt from service under this act, in consequence of their being such assistants. For a failure faithfully to discharge their duty, the Assistant Enrolling officers shall be liable to removal by the Governor, and if without sufficient excuse to be judged of by the Governor, shall be liable further to forfeiture of all compensation.

3. SEC. III. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Aid-de-Camp, within ten days after the enrollment has been completed in his district, to forward complete lists, in duplicate, of the [Illegible Text] in each county of his district, to the Adjustant and Inspector General, and to file with the Clerk of the Superior Court, in each county, a copy of the enrollment in his county; and the Aid shall be empowered and required, when there are but few persons enrolled in a particular company district, to incorporate and consolidate. subject to the approval of the Governor, two or more adjoining company districts into one, reporting the consolidation made, and the numbers of the company districts so combined, and in cities to divide districts.

4. SEC. IV. Be it further enacted, That the Governor be authorized, on receiving the reports of the new company districts provided for in section third, to arrange said companies into Regiments or Battalions, defining their limits without regard to county lines, and if need be, for the purpose of effective organization, without regard to Senatorial Districts, Provided, that no Regimental district shall contain more than one thousand, or less than five hundred men, arranged in ten companies; that no Battalion district of the first class shall contain more than six hundred, or less than four hundred men, arranged in not more than nine, nor less than six companies; that [Illegible Text] Battalion district of the second class shall contain more than four hundred, nor less than two hundred men, arranged in not more than five, nor less than two companies; and that no company district shall contain more than one hundred, nor less than sixty-four men.

5. SEC. V. Be it further enacted, That to each Regiment there shall be allowed one Colonel, one Lieut, Colonel, and one Major; to each Battalion of the first class one Lieutenant Colonel and one Major; to each Battalion of the second class one Major; and to each Company one Captain, four Lieut's, five Sergeants, and four Corporals; and that each Company shall be divided into two platoons, each platoon into two squads, and that there shall be, for the purpose of drill and discipline, one Lieutenant, one Sergeant and one Corporal to each squad.

6. SEC. VI. Be it further enacted, That so soon as the arrangement of Regiments and Battalions and Companies shall be completed in each or any of the Sanatorial Districts, the Governor shall be required within ten days thereafter, to order elections for officers to command said Regiments, Battalions and Companies in the same manner now prescribed in the Military Code of Georgia, and shall issue commissions on the election returns as therein also directed, under the Seal of the Exec'e Department; and that in the event of a failure or neglect on the part of the people to elect, the Governor shall commission to the vacancy, a fit and proper person, on the recommendation of a majority of the Company officers concerned. The officers thus elected, or appointed and commissioned, to be vested with all the authority usually appertaining to such grades. And all members of the State Guard, who are absent in the service of this State or the Confederate States, shall be permitted to vote at said election for officers at the places where they are stationed, and two commissioned officers shall preside at said elections, and transmit returns thereof, within fifteen days after said election, to the Governor of this State, whose duty it shall be to consolidate said votes as in other cases.

7. SEC. VII. Be it further enacted, That whenever the Governor shall have been advised by the Aid-de-Camp in any Senatorial District, that the organizations hereinbefore provided for, have been completed in the District, and the officers therein elected, or appointed and commissioned, it shall be his duty, within ten days thereafter, to declare the militia organization theretofore existing in said District, under the Military Code of Georgia, suspended, and the officers under said previous organization, relieved from their command, and said officers shall be subject to all the Military duties imposed by this Act, upon persons of the same age with themselves.

8. SEC. VIII. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Aid-de-Camp in each Senatorial District, to supervise and direct, under the orders of the Governor, all military matters within his District. He shall be the channel of communication between the Adjutant and Inspector General and the troops in his District, for the transmission of all orders, instructions, reports and military communications generally; and he shall be entitled to compensation at the rate of seven dollars per day, for the time he may be employed in perfecting the organization herein provided for, and for such time in each quarter, not to exceed ten days, as he may be required to devote to military matters in his District. He shall be removable at the pleasure of the Governor.

9. SEC. IX. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of each Lieutenant of a squad to keep a list of all persons enrolled within the limits of his squad beat, and shall notify the Aid-de-Camp of his District, through his Captain, quarterly, of all persons arriving at the age of sixteen. or who shall move into or out of his beat; which notification shall be consolidated by the Aid-de-Camp, and forwarded within ten days after the end of each quarter of the year, to the Adjutant and Inspector General, noting also such other changes in rank, command, &c., that may have occurred during the quarter. The object being to continue a complete enrollment of the District, and to preserve its military organization.

10. SEC. X. And be it further enacted, That the persons enrolled under the second section of this Act, shall be divided into two classes. The first shall be composed of those between seventeen and fifty years of age, to be styled the Militia Proper, who shall be first liable and subject to perform all the military duties contemplated by this Act. The second class shall be composed of those between sixteen and seventeen years of age, and between fifty and sixty years of age, and be styled the Militia Reserve; who shall organize with the Militia proper, but shall not be required to drill or perform any of the military duties contemplated by this Act, until the Militia proper shall have been called into active service, nor be subject or liable to any draft or other compulsory process to fill any requisition for troops, upon the Governor of this State, by the President of the Confederate States. When the Militia proper shall be called into active service, the Lieutenant of each Company most advanced in age, shall be left with, and in command of the Militia Reserve of their respective Companies. Any if any person belonging to the Militia Reserve, shall at any time be elected to, and shall accept any office under this Act, he shall be required to perform all the duties of the office without reference to the class to which he may have belonged.

11. SEC. XI. And be it further enacted, That whenever in the opinion of the Governor, it shall be necessary either to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, or to execute the laws, to call the State Militia, or any part thereof, into active military service, he is hereby authorized and empowered to do so; but the Militia Reserve created by this Act, shall be called into active military service only after the Militia proper has been called out, in great emergencies, to meet which the Militia proper are deemed insufficient, and shall be discharged from such active service as soon as the emergency to meet which they are called out, shall have passed; and whenever the Militia or any part thereof, shall be called into active military service, they shall receive the same pay and allowances as if they were in the service of the Confederate States, and shall be subject to the rules and articles of war, and the regulations for the government of the armies of the Confederate States.

12. SEC. XII. Be it further enacted, That whenever the militia shall be called into active service by the Governor, Brigades and Divisions may be organized for the period of active service, in such manner as the Governor may direct; the officers and men composing the Brigades and Divisions in all cases electing their Brigade and Division commanders; provided that the offices of Brigadier and Division General shall expire when disbanded, and the individuals holding them shall return to service according to their ages, as provided for in this act.

13. SEC. XIII. And be it further enacted, That whenever a requisition for troops for local defence in this State shall be made by
the President of the Confederate States upon the Governor of this State, the Governor shall be empowered and authorized to fill the requisition by apportioning the number required among the different regiments, battallions or companies of the militia proper, provided for by this act; and when the apportionment is made, the Governor may order the number apportioned, detached, drafted or selected in such other manner as he may deem advisable, and may require the Aids de Camp for the Senatorial Districts to superintend the draft, or to execute such orders as may be necessary to accomplish the object; Provided, that unmarried men, bachelors, or widowers without children, shall be subject to draft before married men or widowers who have children; and provided further, that the men drafted or selected shall be formed into companies, battalions or regiments, as the Governor may direct, and shall be permitted to elect the officers to command them while in service; and in case of neglect or refusal to elect when ordered, that the Governor may appoint the officers and compel them to organize, or he may appoint officers to fill vacancies, if the men to be commanded fail or refuse to elect; and provided further, that in case of requisition for troops for local service in a particular part of the State, the Governor may fill it by ordering the number of troops called for to be made up from such regiments, battalions or companies as he may select, in the section of the State, where the service is required.

14. SEC. XIV. And be it further enacted, That any militiaman ordered into active service, whether by order of the Governor, or on a requisition from the President of the Confederate States, who shall fail or refuse after due notice to enter said service, or being therein, shall leave the service without permission, shall be liable to be tried and punished as a deserter, and subject to all the pains and penalties imposed upon deserters in the Rules and Articles of War for the government of the army of the Confederate States.

15. SEC. XV. Be it further enacted, That there shall be appointed by the Governor one Surgeon for each Senatorial District, whose duty it shall be to examine all persons who claim to be unable to bear arms, and shall give certificates to such as, in his judgment, are unable to bear arms, clearly stating therein the causes of such disability. Said Surgeons shall be sworn to discharge his duties faithfully and impartially, and shall receive compensation at the rate of five dollars per day for every day he shall be employed under the orders of the Governor, and who shall be removable by the Governor for neglect or failure in the discharge of his duties.

18. SEC. XVI. And be it further enacted, That exemptions from, and discharges after enrollment, before organization under this Act, may be granted by the Aids-de-Camp of the Senatorial Districts, on the certificate of the District Surgeons; and discharges from service after organization under this Act, may be granted by said Aids-de-Camp on the certificate of the battalion or regimental surgeons, approved by the company, and battalion, or regimental commanders.

17. SEC. XVII. And be it further enacted, That any person made subject to service under this Act, may volunteer in the military or naval service of the Confederate States, or in any company authorized by the acts of Congress of the Confederate States, providing for local defense and special service, but shall again be subject to State service, when his term of service as a volunteer shall have expired.

18. SEC. XVIII. And be it further enacted, That any person subject to service under this act, who is in the employ of the government of the Confederate States, or has a contract with said government, or is employed on any railroad, may be detailed for special duty, upon the request of the Secretary of War, addressed to the Governor, naming the employee or contractor, and the length of time for which such detail is requested; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as authorizing the detail for special duty of any common laborer or other persons in the employment of railroads, manufactories, &c., unless the President or Superintendent of the road, manufactory, or other labor, shall make application to the Governor, through the Aid-de-Camp of his Senatorial District, on affidavit, that such persons are indispensable to said road or work, and their places cannot be filled by other persons not liable to military duty.

19. SEC. XIX. Be it further enacted, That in making the enrollment provided for by this act, the enrolling officers shall report by name, all persons having efficient guns, describing the gun, whether rifle, musket, or shot-gun, and those who have not; also such persons who can furnish their own horses, saddles and bridles, and serve as mounted men; and that the Governor be authorized, whenever in his power to do so, to furnish arms and ammunition to the force herein created, as in his judgment he may deem advisable, upon the requisition and receipt, in duplicate, of the commanders of regiments, battalions or companies, who shall be held accountable for the same, and who shall make returns of the same quarterly to the Adjutant and Inspector General, through the Aid-de-Camp of their Senatorial district, and who shall, for his own security, be entitled to make demand for any gun furnished by him to any person; and any person failing to return said gun to the officer accountable for it, on his demand, or who shall injure or damage any gun or ammunition entrusted to his care, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof in any county in this State, shall be fined or imprisoned, at the discretion of the Court trying the case.

20. SEC. XX. Be it further enacted, That the commanders of regiments, battalious, brigades and divisions shall be entitled to appoint such staff officers as are allowed to similar grades in the Confederate service; and to secure the efficient operation of this Act, that the Governor be entitled to appoint from time to time such staff officers and additional Aids-de-Camp, as he may think necessary.

21. SEC. XXI. And be it further enacted, That the officers of the Executive Department, members of the General Assembly, Secretary of the Senate, and four principal assistants, Clerk of the House of Representatives and six principal Clerks, and the Clerk of the joint Committee of both houses on Finance, and the Clerk of Military Committee of the Senate, Judges of the Supreme and Superior Courts and Justices of the Interior Courts, Attorney and Solicitors General, Reporter and Clerk of the Supreme Court, Clerks of the Superior and Inferior Courts, Tax Collectors, Sheriffs, Ordinaries, Ministers of Religion in the actual care and charge of any organized Church or Synagogue, and such other persons as the Governor in his discretion may deem it absolutely necessary for the public interest to exempt, shall be exempt from the provisions of this Act.

22. SEC. XXII. And be it further enacted, That the Governor be authorized to prescribe the number, and kind of drills, and military exercises to be performed by the militia proper, created by this Act, when not actively engaged in the field, and that for a failure to attend as required on the part of either officers or men, it shall be the duty of the Aid-de-Camp of each district to whom reports of delinquencies shall be made, within three days after any called drill or exercise by the senior officer or non-commissioned officer present at the drill or exercise, to issue a writ of fieri facias, directed to any Sheriff or Constable within his district, to collect out of the property of any delinquent, who shall not furnish a satisfactory excuse, within one week after being reported, a sum not less than three dollars, nor more than fifty dollars, at the discretion of said Aid-de-Camp, which sum shall be turned over by said Aid-de-Camp on receipt therefor, to the Justices of the Inferior Court of the county in which the delinquent may reside, to be applied to the benefit of soldiers' families within said county.

23. SEC. XXIII. And be it further enacted, That so much of the military code of the State of Georgia as is inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, shall be, and the same is hereby suspended, so long as this Act shall be in force, and this Act shall become inoperative and void upon the ratification of a treaty of peace between the United States and Confederate States.

24. SEC. XXIV. And be it further enacted, That no person shall be enrolled under this Act who is subject to conscription under the Conscript Act or Acts of the Confederate Congress; if the State Enrolling officer has doubt whether any person within his limits is subject to enrollment as a conscript, he shall report the fact to the Confederate enrolling officer of the Congressional district, and if said Confederate officer does not cause such person to be enrolled within twenty days after such notice is given, the State Enrolling officer shall enrol him under this Act, or if he is found to be exempt after he is enrolled by the Confederate officer, he shall then be subject to enrollment by the State officer under this Act.

25. SEC. XXV. And be it further enacted, That this Act shall take effect and be operative and in force from and immediately after its passage.

SEC. XXVI. Repeals conflicting laws.

Approval Date: Assented to Dec. 14, 1863.