Chap. 220.—An ACT to Provide for the Reorganization of the Militia.

Approved March 29, 1871.
Classification of malitra.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
all volunteer companies which may be raised, organized, armed,
and equipped, in conformity with law, shall be classified and
known as the active militia; and all other militia shall be clas-
sified and known as the reserve militia, and shall not be re-
quired to muster in time of peace.

Enrollment of militia.

2. The adjutant of each regiment ot militia, appointed as
hereinafter prescribed, shall be charged with the duty of en-
rolling the militia in his regimental district, and may appoint
an assistant in each company district, as the same was estab-
lished and laid off on the first day of January, eighteen hundred
and sixty, whose duty it shall be to make off and return to the
adjutant a complete list of all persons in his company district
liable to military duty, listing white and colored militiamen
separately, with their respective ages, as far as he may be able
to ascertain them, and for this purpose he may resort to the
registration lists, poll and property books, or to any other
means of obtaining the desired information.

3. From the returns so made to him, the adjutant shall make
out a full and complete list of all persons in his regimental dis-
trict liable to military duty, listing white and colored militia-
men separately, with their respective ages, dividing said per-
sons into companies according to the returns made to him by
his assistants in the several company districts, and shall return
said lists to the commanding officer of his regiment, and a copy
thereof to the adjutant general of the state. .

4, Any person who has been illegally enrolled may apply to
the commandant of the regiment in which he is enrolled, to have
his name struck from the lists, and such officer, if satisfied by
proper evidence that the person so applying is illegally en-
rolled, may strike his name from the list. Such officer shall at
once certify to the adjutant general that the name of such per-
son has been stricken from the list, and the list returned to the
adjutant general shall be corrected in accordance with such
certificate. ‘

o. In the month of May of each year, the adjutant shall
amend and correct the list by striking therefrom the names of
such persons as may have been illegally enrolled, or may be
no longer liable to military duty, and adding thereto such per-
sons as may not have been previously enrolled, or may have
become liable to military duty since the last enrollment; and
he may require his assistants in the several company districts,
to aid him in the performance of his duty. Heshall then make
two fair copies of the list, as amended and corrected, and re-
turn one to the commanding officer of the regiment, and the
other to the adjutant general. No compensation shall be paid
to the adjutants or their assistants for the services required by
this act. !

General organization of the militia.

6. Divisions, brigades, regiments, and battalions shall remain
as established on the first day of January, eighteen hundred
and sixty-one, except that where a part of a division or brigade
district, as then established, is now within the limits of the state
of West Virginia, the other part of said district may, by di-
rection of the governor, be attached to adjoining division or
brigade districts.

Officers of the militia.

7. Division, brigade, and regimental officers, appointed and
commissioned under an act passed March second, eighteen
hundred and sixty-six, shall forthwith resume duty under the
commisions then issued to them; but all commissions hereto-
fore issued to company officers shall be void. All officers not
mentioned in this act shall be elected or appointed as provided
in the Code of Virginia, edition of eighteen hundred and sixty.

8. There shall be a major general for each division, a briga-
dier general for each brigade, and a colonel, lieutenant colonel
and a major for each regiment. There shall be no company
officers, unless the militia, or some part thereof, is called into
actual service, and except in cases of volunteer companies, as
hereinafter provided.

9. The governor shall nominate, and by and with the advice
and consent of the senate, shall appoint all major generals and
brigadier generals; but if no nomination be made by him
Within thirty days after a vacancy in such offices occurring
during a session of the legislature, or within thirty days after
the meeting of the legislature, where the vacancy occurs in va-
cation, then the legislature shall elect said officers by a joint
vote of both houses; but a majority of the members elected
to each must concur to make an election. The governor shall
have power to fill all vacancies in said offices which may hap-
pen during vacation, by granting commissions, which shall ex-
pire thirty days after the next meeting of the legislature, or as
soon as said offices are filled by nomination and confirmation,
a8 provided in this section. Colonels, lieutenant-colonels, and
majors shall be appointed and commissioned by the governor.
Adjutants shall be appointed by the colonels of regiments.

10. The power of appointing company officers, other than offi-
cers of volunteer companies, shall be vested in the governor, ex-
cept as hereinafter provided; but he shall make no appointments
except when it may be necessary to call the militia, or some
part thereof, into actual service. Whenever, in the opinion of
the governor, it 1s necessary to call into actual service the mi-
litia, or any part thereof, he shall notify the commandant of
any regiments which, or any part of which, he proposes to call
out, either directly or through superior oflicers; and there-
upon, if it is proposed to call out the whole of any regiment,
the commandant of the regiment shall appoint temporary ofli-
cers, to consist of a captain and two lieutenants, for each com-
pany thereof; but if it is proposed to call out only a part of
the regiment, the commanding officer, on being notified thereof
as aforesaid, may detail from the regiment so many men as are
desired, or such companies as he may think fit, and appoint in
like manner temporary oflicers to command the same.

11. Whenever it may be necessary to order out the militia,
or any part thereof, under the provisions of chapter twenty-
nine of the Code (edition of eighteen hundred and sixty), the
commandants of regiments may appoint temporary officers in
the same manner as provided in the foregoing section.

12. Whenever the militia, or any part thereof, has been
called out and mustered into actual service, the governor may
remove the temporary officers above provided for, and commis-
sion others; but all commissions issued under this section, shall
be void as soon as such militia are discharged from actual ser-
vice. . ‘

13. The temporary officers appointed under the tenth and
eleventh sections of this act, shall perform all the duties ap-
pertaining to their respective offices, and shall be entitled to
the same respect and obedience, and to receive the same pay
and emoluments, as officers regularly commissioned; and any
disrespect, disobedience, or insubordination, on the part of any
member of their commands, shall be punished in like manner
as if such officers were regularly commissioned. Such officers
shall also be responsible and punishable in like manner as offi-
cers regularly commissioned. .

Volunteer companies.

14, Volunteer companies may be composed of persons lia-
ble to military duty, enrolled in any regiment; and any one
who is a member of a volunteer company, organized as here-
Inafter provided, shall be entitled to have his name struck from
the rolls of the reserve militia. Volunteer companies shall
consist of not less than sixty nor more than one hundred men,
to be raised by voluntary enlistment for five years.

15, The officers of each volunteer company shall be a cap-
tain and three lieutenants, to be elected by the members of
the company in the manner hereinafter provided, and commis-
sioned by the governor.

16. Any number of persons, not less than sixty nor more
than one hundred, proposing to form themselves into a volun-
teer company, may assemble together and elect a captain and
three lieutenants, who, if commissioned as hereinafter provided,
shall be the officers of such company. The captain aforesaid,
immediately upon his election as aforesaid, shall make off a
roll of the privates who have agreed to enlist in said company,
and such privates shall be considered as enlisted from that
time. |

17. The governor shall appoint for each of the counties of
the state, three competent persons, who may or may not re-
side in the counties for which they are appointed, (and the
same persons may be appointed for several counties, if the
governor shall decide it expedient to appoint them,) who,
either together or separately, shall examine all persons who
have been elected officers of volunteer companies as aforesaid,
and who shall apply to be examined. If said persons, so ap-
pointed, shall be satisfied from the examination made by them,
that the persons so elected and applying, possess a sufficient
knowledge of military tactics to make competent and efficient
officers, they shall give to such persons a certificate, stating
that they have made the examination required by this act, and
that they find such persons well qualified to make efficient offi-
cers. A certificate to the like effect shall also be returned to
the adjutant general of the state, and every such certificate
shall be signed by each of the three persons appointed as
aforesaid.

18. On presentation of such certificate to the governor, if
he shall find a like certificate has been returned to the adjutant
general, he shall forthwith commission such persons, and the
company shall be considered as organized from the date of said
commissions.

19. If any person elected an officer of a volunteer company
as aforesaid, shall fail, for one month after his election, to make
application for examination as aforesaid, or if, on examination,
the certificate required shall be refused, his election shall be
void; and if, after three months from the first election of offi-
cers as aforesaid, a full complement of officers for the company
shall not have been commissioned, the said company shall be
dissolved. If three months shall elapse from the organization
of any company, and less than sixty members thereof shall
have provided themselves with neat uniforms, to be prescribed
by the governor, such company shall be dissolved, and the
members thereof shall be enrolled in the reserve militia.

20. When any company has been organized and uniformed
as aforesaid, they may be furnished with arms and equipments
as provided by law.

21. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with the provisions
of this act, are hereby repealed.

22. This act shall take éffect from and after the firat day of
May, eighteen hundred and seventy-one.