EEGULATIO N S
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For the Care and Transportation of the Sick in the Army of the Potomac.
DEPARTMENT 0# WAR,
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Richmond, Oct. 21, 1861.
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I. The Quartermaster General will provide two Sick Trains per week, to leave for Richmond oil stated days and
hours, and one of the ears will be furnished with stretchers instead of seats, to accommodate the worst cases.
II. An Officer of the Quartermaster's Department will be detailed in charge of the train, rvho will be responsible
for the order and regularity of the trips, providing an ample supply of water for the use of the sick; preventing delays
on the road, and permitting no person to be transported on the train except the sick, with their Medical Officers and
nurses.
TIT. The train will return on the day following tlie down trip, in order that the officers and men temporarily at-
taelied to it, may rejoin their several companies, and all convalescents discharged from the different hospitals as fit for
duty, will return to camp in it, each man so discharged, being furnished with a certificate from the chief of his hospital
of the date of his discharge, to be given to the Captain of his company on his arrival in camp, and this certificate shall
ho exhibited to the Officer in charge of the train, as evidence of the right of the holder to transportation.
IV. In quartering the sick in the different hospitals, care will be taken to keep the men of the same regiments and
states together as nearly, as possible, and returns of their location shall be promptly made to their Commanders.
V. A Medical Officer will be detailed by the Surgeon General whose exclusive duty it shall be to take direction of
the sick on trains : he shall be accompanied by an adequate number of nurses. He will be provided with a supply of
food, medicines and such articles as he may find necessary lor the well-being of the patients. The Quartermaster in
charge of the train, will as far as he consistently may, give assistance in carrying out the wishes of the Surgeon.
YI. A number of Assistant Surgeons detailed in rotation from the different corps, by the Medical Director of the •
Army, will accompany the trains, returning the following day to their corps.
VII. The Surgeon in charge* of the train will examine the descriptive roll of each sick man transported and make
returns of the number on each train and of the Regiment, Legion, Battalion or independent Company to which they
belong, both to the Chief of his bureau and the Medical Director of the Army.. He will promptly report to head quar-
tors all irregularities, 'whether the failure of Commanders to make out proper descriptive rolls, or to send the required
number of nurses, or the rations necessary for the use of the sick.
— A Jir^Xkunimriwler^mt*...Ii^giixio-atsr -independent Companies will require from-their-respective- -
Surgeons, written reports of the cases to be sent to the hospitals in the rear, and the number of such cases will be re-
turned through the regular military channels to the Brigade Commander, to be by him transmitted with his approval to
the Medical Director of the Army, the day previous to the departure of the trains. They will also furnish each man
sent to the rear with an accurate descriptive roll to accompany him to hospital and detail nurses for the sick so sent in
the proportion of one nurse to twenty patients, and such additional nurses for special cases requiring extra care as may
be necessary in the opinion of the Surgeon.- They will provide the sick and nurses with cooked rations sufficient for
the trip.
IX. In cases of battles where extra trains may be required for the accommodation of the wounded, the Command-
ing Generals will give the earliest possible intelligence of their wants to the Quartermaster in charge of trains, who will
spare no effort to supply such extra trains.
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REGULATIONS FOR THE SICK OF OTHER ARMIES.
X. The foregoing Regulations apply particularly to the Army of the Potomac, but every General or other Officer
commanding an Army in the field from which sick arc sent to hospital in the rear, will organize a regular system of
transportation, the best that the circumstances in which be is placed will allow: detail Officers of the Quartermaster's
and Medical Departments in charge, and cause regular returns to be made in the manner prescribed in the foregoing
Regulations.
^REGULATIONS CONCERNING THE ARMS OF SICK SOLDIERS.
I. Whenever a Soldier of any Regiment, Legion, Battalion or separate Company is sent to hospital in the rear, the
Commander thereof will deposite with the Ordnance Officer on-duty with the Army, his arms and accoutrements. These
will be stored by the Officer in charge, the arms of each Regiment, Legion, Battalion and Separate Company being kept
distinct from all others. The assistants necessary for the care and preservation of such arms and accoutrements will be
furnished by details from the different corps, made by the Head Quarters of the Army.
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II. The Commander of the sick Soldier on making deposit of his arms and accoutrements, will take from the Ord-
nance Officer in charge a receipt, and on the return of the Soldier to duty, he will be entitled to- withdraw his arms and
accoutrements from the Ordnance depot, on presenting the receipt taken by his officer. Commanders of Regiments,
Legions, Battalions or independent Companies will make monthly reports to the Chief of Ordnance at the seat of govern-
ment, of the whole number of arms deposited by them during the month, and of the number remaining on deposite at
the date of the report.
III. When a death or discharge occurs in any Regiment or Corps, the Commander thereof will promptly report
the fact to the Ordnance Officer in charge, who will transfer to the Ordnance depot at the seat of government, the arm.
and accoutrements of such Soldier, at the same time forwarding through the Commander of the Regiment or Corps, to
the Captain of the company to which the Soldier belonged, a certificate of the transfer to serve as his voucher; and<
Commanders of Regiments, Battalions, Legions or independent Companies will make monthly returns directly to the
Chief of Ordnance at the seat of government of the number of arms so transferred.
J. P. BENJAMIN,
Acting Sec. of War.