GENERAL ORDERS,

No. 144.

The following rules are prescribed for the guidance of boards in examining applicants for commissions in regiments of colored troops:

1. The Board will sit every day, except Sunday, from 9 o'clock a. m. to 5 o'clock p. m. The place of sitting to be provided by the Quartermaster's Department, and public notice given.
2. The Board will make to the Adjutant-General, for record in the Bureau for Colored Troops, reports of' all persons examined, whether approved or rejected; the reports will be made weekly, or oftener when specially called for.
3. Each applicant must exhibit to the Board authority from the Adjutant-General to appear before it. Such authority will be given upon satisfactory recommendations of good moral character and standing in the community in which the applicant resided, or, if in the military service, on testimonials from his commanding officers. All such recommendations will be filed in the Bureau .for Colored Troops.
4. Each applicant shall be subjected to a fair but rigorous examination as to physical, mental, and moral fitness to command troops.
5. The Board shall specify for what grade of commission the several applicants are fit, and shall also classify and number them according to merit or proficiency.
6. Appointments to each grade shall only be made from the candidates approved by the Board, and in the order of merit recommended by it.
7. The report of the Board, if adverse, shall be conclusive, and no person rejected by it shall be re-examined.
8. Other instructions will be communicated to boards if required.