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for the use or benefit of contractors with the government.
Sec. 8. Nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize the impressing officer to enter an appeal from any decision of the local appraisers, under the seventh section of the act to which this is amendatory.
Approved February sixteenth, 1864.
I. Impressments according to this act, and the act to which this is an amendment, may be made for necessary supplies for the confederate armies in the field, and for their accumulation in magazines and at posts and depots, and to carry on the various operations of the military bureau connected with the war department, whenever the same cannot be obtained by contract.
II.
They may be made under orders from the generals commanding armies, departments, corps, divisions, and by commanders of detached parties when a necessity arises therefor.
These orders may be executed by appropriate officers of the staff belonging to the army.
The chiefs of the various bureaux shall designate the officers and persons who shall be competent to make impressments under the authority conferred upon them.
III.
Before any impressment shall be made, the impressing officer or his agent will make an offer to the owner, his bailee, or agent, in writing, for the purchase of the property, describing the property he wishes to purchase, the price he is willing to pay, and the mode of payment, and stating that, upon a refusal to accept the same, compensation will be made according to the acts of Congress for the regulation of impressments.
This notice will be considered as binding the property until the completion of the negotiation for the sale and transfer of the same to the impressing officer.
The property will remain in the custody of the owner, and at his risk, during the pending of these proceedings, unless a delivery of the same be thereupon made to the impressing officer, with his consent.
In case of a change of possession under these circumstances, the confederate States will be regarded as the owner, and the property held for its use and at its risk.
IV.
In all cases in which the offer of an impressing officer is refused, he will proceed to adjust the price according to the first section of the act above recited — that is, by the judgment of two loyal and disinterested persons of the city, county, or parish in which the impressment may be made--one to be selected by the owner, his bailee or agent, and one by the impressing officer.
In the event of their disagreement, these two will select an umpire of like qualification.
The persons thus selected will proceed to assess just compensation for the property so impressed, whether the absolute ownership or the temporary use thereof be required.
If the impressing officer believes that the appraisement is fair and just, he will indorse his approval, and pay for the property; and the right in the object impressed will become the property of the confederate States.
But if he does not approve of the appraisement, he will decline to approve it, and indorse the reason for his refusal on the certificate, and forthwith report the case to the commissioners appointed under the fifth section of the act to which the act above recited is an amendment, and in the mean time the property will be taken and a receipt describing the property and the proceedings for the adjustment of the price and the appeal, given to the owner.
The impressing officer will immediately report the case to the appraisers, with a statement of the quality and condition of the property, and his opinion upon the subject.
V. No officer or agent will impress the necessary supplies which any person may have for the consumption of himself and family, employes, slaves, or to carry on his ordinary mechanical, manufacturing, or agricultural employments.
If any question arise as to the fact whether the supplies are necessary, or whether there be a surplus, it will be determined by appraisers mutually selected according to the preceding section, and in this case the decision of the appraisers will be binding on the officer, who will not be allowed an appeal therefrom.
VI.
These regulations are published as a substitute for the regulations contained in General Orders Nos. 37 and 161, series of 1863.
By order.
S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector-General.
