corps stations. (e) To the army transports, mine planters, and cable ships serving within the geographical limits of the Philippines Division or of any territorial department in the United States, or having home ports therein.

In making the distribution hereinbefore provided for the following rules will govern: An official file or a personal file consists of 1 copy of each general order or circular of the series. Only 1 personal file will be allowed in any individual case, and the number of official files will be as follows: (1) To division, department, and military district headquarters, such number as may be necessary; (2) to an artillery district or a regimental headquarters, 5; to a post, 1 for the post, 1 each for the adjutant, quartermaster, commissary, surgeon, and ordnance officer; (3) to each troop, battery, or company organization, 1; (4) to an army transport, mine planter, or cable ship, 1.

The requisite number of copies of orders and circulars to supply all authorized official and personal files at a post will be sent to the post commander, who will distribute them in accordance with the provisions of this paragraph.

When a regiment is serving in the field it will be furnished with 3 copies of each general order and circular, in addition to the number for the official and personal files hereinbefore authorized.

In all cases in which the number of orders and circulars to be supplied for official files is not definitely fixed by this paragraph, the number of such files to be maintained and supplied will be determined by special instructions from The Adjutant General's Office.

Chiefs of bureaus and offices of the War Department will not supply copies of War Department orders or circulars for the official or personal files of any of their subordinates, except such as are on duty in their respective bureaus and offices in Washington.

The official files of general orders and circulars will not be removed from the stations or organizations to which they belong.

Individual officers serving, or under assignment to duty, within the geographical limits of the Philippines Division or of any territorial department in the United States, but not reporting to the headquarters thereof, will make application to the adjutant general of such division or department for their supply of War Department general orders and circulars, and will thereafter keep him informed of any change in their respective addresses, such application to show in each case the number of the last general order and of the last circular of the officer's files, in order that his files may be brought to date and kept complete.

Officers failing to receive copies of general orders or circulars of the War Department, or desiring to replace copies that have been lost or destroyed, will make application for the desired copies to the officer by whom such orders and circulars are ordinarily furnished to them.

SPECIAL ORDERS.

Full copies of special orders will be furnished directly from The Adjutant General's Office to the chiefs of bureaus and offices of the War Department and, for use in the official files, to the headquarters of each territorial division and department.

Extracts of special orders will be furnished from the office of The Adjutant General of the Army directly, or through intermediate commanders, only to those concerned.

817. In camp or garrison, orders that affect a command will, as a rule, be read to the troops at the first regular parade after they are received. In the

field, when orderly hours can not be observed, they will be sent directly to the troops, or commanders of regiments or corps will be informed when to send to headquarters for them, or during a halt orders will be read to troops, without waiting for the regular parades.

818. Commanding generals of territorial divisions and departments will forward to The Adjutant General of the Army, as soon as issued from their headquarters, such number of copies of general orders and circulars and special orders, with indexes thereto, and rosters of troops as may be directed from time to time by the War Department.

Commanding officers of military districts and of separate brigades will forward to The Adjutant General of the Army 2 copies of all orders and circulars as soon as issued from their headquarters.

819. The date of any appointment, detail, or removal affecting the pay of staff officers or acting staff officers will be immediately reported by the officer making the same to The Adjutant General of the Army and to the paymaster of the department or command to which such officers belong.

ARTICLE LXIII.

MUSTER ROLLS.

820. At every muster of troops pay rolls will be prepared, signed, and disposed of in accordance with the directions on the blank forms furnished by the Paymaster General of the Army, and at each bimonthly muster on the last day of February, April, June, August, October, and December muster rolls will be prepared, signed, and disposed of in accordance with the directions on the blank forms furnished by The Adjutant General of the Army.

There will be reported on the field, staff, and band roll the regimental field officers, the chaplain, regimental and battalion staff (commissioned and noncommissioned), and band; on the post artillery corps rolls, the noncommissioned staff (artillery corps bands on separate rolls); on the company rolls, the officers and enlisted men belonging to the company; on the hospital rolls, the medical officers, the hospital corps, and the authorized matrons; on the post noncommissioned staff rolls, the post noncommissioned staff. The last-named rolls will be prepared and signed by the adjutant, who will also keep the accounts and prepare the final statements of the men borne thereon.

821. A soldier on duty or in a hospital at a post or station where his company is not mustered will be mustered on a detachment roll, a separate muster roll being prepared for each regiment or corps. Where two or more of such soldiers are at a post or station their names will be borne on one consolidated pay roll, which will show in a column ruled for that purpose the organization to which each soldier belongs.

822. Companies will be designated on the rolls by letters or numbers, and regiments or corps.

823. Corrections on muster and pay rolls, after muster and before they have been forwarded, will not be made except with the approval of the mustering officer. Retained rolls will not be changed without authority from the War Department. Calculations on the pay roll are made by the paymaster and copied on the retained roll by the company or detachment commander, who will certify that he witnessed the payment, and will enter thereon the name of the paymaster.

ARTICLE LXIV.

RETURNS OF TROOPS-RECORDS.

824. Commanders of territorial divisions will make to The Adjutant General of the Army monthly returns of officers and men under their immediate command and not subject to control of department commanders.

825. Commanders of territorial departments, posts, subposts, army corps, tactical divisions, brigades, regiments, companies, detachments, general hospitals, field hospitals, and mine planters will make monthly returns of their respective commands on forms furnished by The Adjutant General of the Army and in accordance with directions printed thereon. Chiefs of staff corps and departments will make similar monthly returns of their corps and departments, and transport quartermasters will make similar monthly returns of officers and enlisted men serving on transports under regular detail in the transport service.

In the case of a subpost the returns will be prepared by the commanding officer of the main post, unless the detachment at the subpost is in command of a commissioned officer, in which event such officer will prepare the returns and forward them through the commanding officer of the main post.

826. In addition to the monthly returns required by paragraph 825, commanding officers of regiments, companies, and detachments will make similar returns of their commands to The Adjutant General of the Army and to their immediate commanding officer whenever they leave or join a station, or when they sail from a port of embarkation or arrive at a port of destination.

When leaving station the return to the immediate commanding officer will be accompanied by a report from each organization on the monthly return blank showing alterations since last return only, with record of events to date.

The commanding officer of troops on a transport will, before sailing and on reaching port of destination, make a special return to the department commander and to The Adjutant General of the Army of all casuals and unattached officers and enlisted men passengers on the ship.

827. When a field officer is serving with detached companies of his regiment or corps the commanders thereof will forward their returns through him.

828. Whenever the strength of a separate command is temporarily or permanently increased by the arrival or decreased by the departure of any organization, the commanding officer will immediately inform the next higher commander by telegraph of the designation of such organization moved, of the number and names of officers, and of the strength in men, animals, and arms.

BATTLE REPORTS, RETURNS OF EFFECTIVES, CASUALTIES.

829. In campaign two columns will be added to the monthly return in the space reserved for remarks, in which shall be entered the effective strength of the organization. In determining such strength only those who are available for service in the line of battle will be included. Officers or enlisted men who are sick or disabled, on duty in any of the staff or supply departments, or for any cause not available in line of battle, will be excluded.

830. After every battle or engagement with the enemy, written reports thereof will be made by commanders of regiments, separate battalions or squadrons, companies or detachments, and by all commanders of a higher grade, each in what concerns his own command, which reports will be forwarded, through the proper channel, to The Adjutant General of the Army. It shall be the especial duty of all general staff officers attached to commands in the field to keep careful journals of the operations, from which they will compile reports of said operations for their immediate commanders.

831. Whenever upon marches, guards, or in quarters different corps of the Army happen to join or do duty together, and an officer of the Marine Corps or the militia shall command the whole, such officer shall report his action and the operations of the force under his command, through military channels, to the Secretary of War, as well as to his superiors in his own branch of the service.

832. Immediately after any engagement in which casualties have occurred the commanding officer of each organization that participated therein will submit, by telegraph if possible, to his immediate superior commander a report showing by name each person killed, wounded or otherwise injured, or missing, officers and enlisted men to be reported separately, and wounds and other injuries to be classified, if practicable, as slight or severe. If telegraphic communication can not be had, the report will be sent by the most expeditious means available. The report will be consolidated, if necessary, at the proper headquarters and telegraphed to The Adjutant General of the Army. In addition to the foregoing report, commanding officers of posts, regiments, or separate organizations will prepare and forward by mail a return in triplicate, showing the name, rank, and organization of each person killed, wounded or otherwise injured, or missing, the date and place of the engagement and, in the case of wound or other injury, the location of the wound or the nature of the injury, and whether slight or severe. Whenever necessary commanding officers will call on their senior medical officers for all information that can be supplied in this connection. One copy of the return will be forwarded by the officer making it to his immediate superior commander, 1 copy will be retained for file with the records of the post or organization, and 1 copy will be sent by mail directly to The Adjutant General of the Army.

833. A return of all captured property will be rendered to The Adjutant General of the Army, through intermediate channels, by the immediate commander of the troops making the capture.

RECORDS.

834. All military records must be carefully preserved.

835. All public records, reports, and papers, such as document files, files of general and special orders and circulars, correspondence books, guard reports, morning reports, the records of enlisted men as kept in descriptive and deposit books or on loose leaves, and sick reports, are the property of the United States, and will be required by the War Department in the settlement of claims against the Government and for other official purposes. Whenever posts, districts, territorial divisions, departments, corps, divisions, brigades, regiments, and companies are discontinued, all such records will be carefully labeled, packed, and marked, showing the command to which they pertain, and will be forwarded to The Adjutant General of the Army, who will be promptly advised of the date of shipment and furnished with a schedule of records shipped. Records of discontinued depots of the staff departments will be forwarded directly to the chief of the staff department to which they pertain.

836. The use of colored inks, except as carmine or red ink is used in annotation, ruling, or compliance with specific instructions issued by the War Department on blank forms or otherwise, is prohibited in the records and correspondence of the Army.

837. Sections 5403 and 5408, Revised Statutes, prescribe penalties for the fraudulent or wrongful destruction, withdrawal, or removal from any public office of any public record, paper, or document therein deposited.

838. No information will be furnished by any person in the military service which can be made the basis of a claim against the Government, except it be given as the regulations prescribe to the proper officers of the War, Treasury, or Interior Departments, or the Department of Justice. Information concerning sick and wounded officers and enlisted men may be freely conveyed to allay the anxiety of friends. The fact of death may be communicated to relatives, but not circumstances connected therewith which could be made use of in prosecuting claims against the Government. If any person in the military service has knowledge of facts pertaining to the service of an individual who is an applicant for a pension, he may, upon request, if not pecuniarily interested, furnish a certificate or affidavit setting forth his knowledge, but such certificate or affidavit will be furnished only to The Adjutant General of the Army to be forwarded to the proper officer of the Interior Department. Record evidence will be furnished by the War Department only.

ARTICLE LXV.

PERSONAL, INDIVIDUAL SERVICE, AND EFFICIENCY REPORTS.

839. When any officer arrives at Washington, D. C., or at headquarters of a territorial division or department, he will report at the office of The Adjutant General, and will there record his name, residence in the city, and the authority by which he is absent from his station.

840. All general officers will make monthly report to The Adjutant General of the Army of their stations, duties, etc., and those not reported on division, department, or other returns will also report the names of all aides-de-camp attached to their staffs.

841. All officers absent from their regiments, corps, or commands will at the end of each month make report by letter to The Adjutant General of the Army and to the headquarters of their regiment, corps, or command, giving their address; if on duty, the date of commencement of same, nature thereof, and by what authority, and if not on duty, date of commencement of and authority for absence; and any officer so absent who may incur any sickness or injury will include in his report for the month in which it occurred a statement of the fact, giving the nature and cause of such sickness or injury.

842. An officer detached from his regiment or corps for duty will immediately report to The Adjutant General of the Army and to his regimental commander or the chief of his corps the time of departure from former station, of arrival at new station, with a reference to the authority for the change, and his post-office address. As soon as practicable he will in like manner report the nature of his duties.

843. An officer of a staff corps or department, or an officer serving therein by detail, will report to The Adjutant General of the Army and to the head of his corps or department on the last day of every month, giving his address, a statement of the duties on which he has been employed during the month, the date of his assignment thereto, and the authority by which so assigned. An officer on the retired list assigned to duty by War Department orders will make a like report on the last day of every month to The Adjutant General of the Army, and an officer on the retired list not assigned to duty by War Department orders, unless specially exempted, will report his address to The Adjutant General of the Army on the last day of every month and will also report promptly each change of address.

844. Regimental field officers not serving at the headquarters of their regiments will make monthly reports to their regimental commanders. These reports will embrace everything essential to a correct record of their services