Item description: General Order No. 70, dated 3 November 1861, about filling vacancies among commissioned officers.
Item citation: From folder 20 of the Boykin Family Papers (#78), Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Item transcription:
Head Quarters
1st Corps. Army of the Potomac
Near Centerville, November 3, 1861
General Orders No. 70}
I. All vacancies in the line of commissioned officers of of the volunteer forces serving in the Army of the Potomac will of course be filled in the manner prescribed by the laws of the several States from which the troops are respectively furnished.
II. When the laws of the State require election, it will be ordered at once by the commander of the Regiment Battalion, or independent company in which vacancies exist, giving five days notice of the time and place of the election in each instance; and these elections must be conducted if practicable, or as far as possible, in exact conformity with the rules established for such elections by the local authorities. But when strict compliance therewith is impracticable, then these elections must invariably be [?] by the commanding officer of the Regiment, Battalion or independent company in which election is held unless in an independent company, when the vacancy to be filled is that of captain, in which case, the Brigade commander will detail a field officer to conduct the election.
III. The returns of these elections, duly made, will be transmitted, as all other official communication through these Head Quarters.
IV. Any vacancies existing in the line of field officers in any Regiment, or independent Battalion, which, according to local laws are not to be filled by election, but by selection by State or other authority, will at once be reported to these Head Quarters.
By command of General Beauregard
Signed F.H. Jordan
Asst. Adjt. Genl.
Official
C.R. Holmes
Apt. Inst. & A.A. Gen’l.
Lieut. Chestnut
Comdg Boykins Rangers
