I could use some help...

I ran across a letter from Capt.Jere Williams of the 9th Alabama to the Secretary of War dated Dec. 1, 1862. It was a request that Capt. W. L. Wayland be re-instated to the list of officers, since the regiment was so short on officers after the Peninsula Campaign. Wayland had been elected Lieutenant, was promoted to adjutant, and had served well since he he first came to the regiment. However, he was seriously wounded at Seven Pines and was removed from the list of officers. Now recovered, he wanted to return to his position.

Capt. Williams went on to mention that Wayland had requested time to go home to get his bond which he had started working on while he was at home. The Secretary of War had no objection to his re-instatement, provided he could obtain his bond. In a letter from William McClellan of the 9th AL he stated in a Feb. 20, 1862 letter from Fredericksburg that "...Wayland had arrived here, having failed to give bond for his office. [Lt.] Floyd has been appointed in his stead having given the requisite bond." I also read a letter Wayland later sent to the Secretary of War requesting that he be allowed to raise a cavalry command back home.

What is the story on the bond...especially going home to finish the one he had started? Capt. Williams also mentions that Wayland was having a dificult time with the bond since most of the officers who knew him (and sponsored him?) were dead on the field. Can someone claify the bond system for me? It seems a little more complicated than I thought.

John