Chapter L: Thomas,

_Adjutant-General_.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington City, D.C., February 18, 1862_.

_Ordered by the President, Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States_, That on the 22d day of February, in the Hall of the House of Representatives, immediately after the Farewell Address of George Washington shall have been read, the rebel flags lately captured by the United States forces shall be presented to Congress by the Adjutant-General, to be disposed of as Congress may direct.

By order of the President,

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington City, February 25, 1862_.

_Ordered_, first. On and after the 26th day of February instant the President, by virtue of the act of Congress, takes military possession of all the telegraph lines in the United States.

Second. All telegraphic communications in regard to military operations not expressly authorized by the War Department, the General Commanding, or the generals commanding armies in the field, in the several departments, are absolutely forbidden.

Third. All newspapers publishing military news, however obtained and by whatever medium received, not authorized by the official authority mentioned in the preceding paragraph will be excluded thereafter from receiving information by telegraph or from transmitting their papers by railroad.

Fourth. Edward S. Sanford is made military supervisor of telegraphic messages throughout the United States. Anson Stager is made military superintendent of all telegraph lines and offices in the United States.

Fifth. This possession and control of the telegraph lines is not intended to interfere in any respect with the ordinary affairs of the companies or with private business.

By order of the President:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington, February 27, 1862_.

_It is ordered_, first. That a special commission of two persons, one of military rank and the other in civil life, be appointed to examine the cases of the state prisoners remaining in the military custody of the United States, and to determine whether, in view of the public safety and the existing rebellion, they should be discharged or remain in military custody or be remitted to the civil tribunals for trial.

Second. That Major-General John A. Dix, commanding in Baltimore, and the Hon. Edwards Pierrepont, of New York, be, and they are hereby, appointed commissioners for the purposes above mentioned, and they are authorized to examine, hear, and determine the cases aforesaid, _ex parte_ and in a summary manner, at such times and places as in their discretion they may appoint, and make full report to the War Department.

By order of the President:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

WASHINGTON, _February 28, 1862_.

Considering that the existing circumstances of the country allow a partial restoration of commercial intercourse between the inhabitants of those parts of the United States heretofore declared to be in insurrection and the citizens of the loyal States of the Union, and exercising the authority and discretion confided to me by the act of Congress approved July 13, 1861, entitled "An act further to provide for the collection of duties on imports, and for other purposes," I hereby license and permit such commercial intercourse in all cases within the rules and regulations which have been or may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury for the conducting and carrying on of the same on the inland waters and ways of the United States.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

PRESIDENT'S GENERAL WAR ORDER No. 2.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, March 8, 1862_.

_Ordered_, 1. That the major-general commanding the Army of the Potomac proceed forthwith to organize that part of the said army destined to enter upon active operations (including the reserve, but excluding the troops to be left in the fortifications about Washington) into four army corps, to be commanded according to seniority of rank, as follows:

First Corps to consist of four divisions, and to be commanded by Major-General I. McDowell.

Second Corps to consist of three divisions, and to be commanded by Brigadier-General E.V. Sumner.

Third Corps to consist of three divisions, and to be commanded by Brigadier-General S.P. Heintzelman.

Fourth Corps to consist of three divisions, and to be commanded by Brigadier-General E.D. Keyes.

2. That the divisions now commanded by the officers above assigned to the commands of army corps shall be embraced in and form part of their respective corps.

3. The forces left for the defense of Washington will be placed in command of Brigadier-General James S. Wadsworth, who shall also be military governor of the District of Columbia.

4. That this order be executed with such promptness and dispatch as not to delay the commencement of the operations already directed to be undertaken by the Army of the Potomac.

5. A fifth army corps, to be commanded by Major-General N.P. Banks, will be formed from his own and General Shields's (late General Lander's) divisions.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

PRESIDENT'S GENERAL WAR ORDER No. 3.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, March 8, 1862_.

_Ordered_, That no change of the base of operations of the Army of the Potomac shall be made without leaving in and about Washington such a force as in the opinion of the General in Chief and the commanders of all the army corps shall leave said city entirely secure.

That no more than two army corps (about 50,000 troops) of said Army of the Potomac shall be moved _en route_ for a new base of operations until the navigation of the Potomac from Washington to the Chesapeake Bay shall be freed from enemy's batteries and other obstructions, or until the President shall hereafter give express permission.

That any movements as aforesaid _en route_ for a new base of operations which may be ordered by the General in Chief, and which may be intended to move upon the Chesapeake Bay, shall begin to move upon the bay as early as the 18th day of March instant, and the General in Chief shall be responsible that it so move as early as that day.

_Ordered_, That the Army and Navy cooperate in an immediate effort to capture the enemy's batteries upon the Potomac between Washington and the Chesapeake Bay.

A. LINCOLN.

PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL WAR ORDER No. 3

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, March 11, 1862_.

Major-General McClellan having personally taken the field at the head of the Army of the Potomac, until otherwise ordered he is relieved from the command of the other military departments, he retaining command of the Department of the Potomac.

_Ordered further_, That the departments now under the respective commands of Generals Halleck and Hunter, together with so much of that under General Buell as lies west of a north and south line indefinitely drawn through Knoxville, Tenn., be consolidated and designated the Department of the Mississippi, and that until otherwise ordered Major-General Halleck have command of said department.

_Ordered also_, That the country west of the Department of the Potomac and east of the Department of the Mississippi be a military department, to be called the Mountain Department, and that the same be commanded by Major-General Frémont.

That all the commanders of departments, after the receipt of this order by them, respectively report severally and directly to the Secretary of War, and that prompt, full, and frequent reports will be expected of all and each of them.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

WAR DEPARTMENT, _March 13, 1862_.

Major-General GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN:

The President, having considered the plan of operations agreed upon by yourself and the commanders of army corps, makes no objection to the same, but gives the following directions as to its execution:

1. Leave such force at Manassas Junction as shall make it entirely certain that the enemy shall not repossess himself of that position and line of communication.

2. Leave Washington entirely secure.

3. Move the remainder of the force down the Potomac, choosing a new base at Fortress Monroe, or anywhere between here and there, or, at all events, move such remainder of the army at once in pursuit of the enemy by some route.

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.

[From the Daily National Intelligencer, March 28, 1862.]

NAVY DEPARTMENT, _March 15, 1862_.

Lieutenant JOHN L. WORDEN, United States Navy,

_Commanding United States Steamer Monitor, Washington_.

SIR: The naval action which took place on the 10th instant between the _Monitor_ and _Merrimac_ at Hampton Roads, when your vessel, with two guns, engaged a powerful armored steamer of at least eight guns, and after a few hours' conflict repelled her formidable antagonist, has excited general admiration and received the applause of the whole country.

The President directs me, while earnestly and deeply sympathizing with you in the injuries which you have sustained, but which it is believed are but temporary, to thank you and your command for the heroism you have displayed and the great service you have rendered.

The action of the 10th and the performance, power, and capabilities of the _Monitor_ must effect a radical change in naval warfare.

Flag-Officer Goldsborough, in your absence, will be furnished by the Department with a copy of this letter of thanks and instructed to cause it to be read to the officers and crew of the _Monitor_.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

GIDEON WELLES.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington, D.C., April 5, 1862_.

Major-General JOHN A. DIX:

_Ordered_, That Major-General John A. Dix, commanding at Baltimore, be, and he is, authorized and empowered at his discretion--

First. To assume and exercise control over the police of the city of Baltimore; to supersede and remove the civil police or any part thereof and establish a military police in said city.

Second. To arrest and imprison disloyal persons, declare martial law, and suspend the writ of _habeas corpus_ in the city of Baltimore or any part of his command, and to exercise and perform all military power, function, and authority that he may deem proper for the safety of his command or to secure obedience and respect to the authority and Government of the United States.

By order of the President:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.

[From the Daily National Intelligencer, May 17, 1862.]

The skillful and gallant movements of Major-General John E. Wool and the forces under his command, which resulted in the surrender of Norfolk and the evacuation of strong batteries erected by the rebels on Sewells Point and Craney Island and the destruction of the rebel ironclad steamer _Merrimac_, are regarded by the President as among the most important successes of the present war. He therefore orders that his thanks as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy be communicated by the War Department to Major-General John E. Wool and the officers and soldiers of his command for their gallantry and good conduct in the brilliant operations mentioned.

By order of the President, made at the city of Norfolk on the 11th day of May, 1862:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.

WAR DEPARTMENT, _May 25, 1862_.

_Ordered_: By virtue of the authority vested by act of Congress, the President takes military possession of all the railroads in the United States from and after this date until further order, and directs that the respective railroad companies, their officers and servants, shall hold themselves in readiness for the transportation of such troops and munitions of war as may be ordered by the military authorities, to the exclusion of all other business.

By order of the Secretary of War:

M.C. MEIGS,

_Quartermaster-General_.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington, D.C., May 28, 1862_.

Colonel HAUPT:

SIR: You are hereby appointed chief of construction and transportation in the Department of the Rappahannock, with the rank of colonel, and attached to the staff of Major-General McDowell.

You are authorized to do whatever you may deem expedient to open for use in the shortest possible time all military railroads now or hereafter required in said department; to use the same for transportation under such rules and regulations as you may prescribe; to appoint such assistants and employees as you may deem necessary, define their duties and fix their compensation; to make requisitions upon any of the military authorities, with the approval of the Commanding General, for such temporary or permanent details of men as may be required for the construction or protection of lines of communication; to use such Government steamers and transports as you may deem necessary; to pass free of charge in such steamers and transports and on other military roads all persons whose services may be required in construction or transportation; to purchase all such machinery, rolling stock, and supplies as the proper use and operation of the said railroads may require, and certify the same to the Quartermaster-General, who shall make payment therefor. You are also authorized to form a permanent corps of artificers, organized, officered, and equipped in such manner as you may prescribe; to supply said corps with rations, transportation, tools, and implements by requisitions upon the proper departments; to employ civilians as foremen and assistants, under such rules and rates of compensation as you may deem expedient; to make such additions to ordinary rations when actually at work as you may deem necessary.

You are also authorized to take possession of and use all railroads, engines, cars, buildings, machinery, and appurtenances within the geographical limits of the Department of the Rappahannock, and all authority heretofore given to other parties which may in any way conflict with the instructions herein contained are and will be without force and effect in the said Department of the Rappahannock from and after this date.

By order of the President, Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

_Washington City, D.C., May 30, 1862_.

All regiments of militia or of three-months' volunteers who have offered their services under the recent call of the War Department, and who have so far perfected their organization as to be able to report for orders at St. Louis, at Columbus, or at Washington City by the 10th of June, will be mustered into the service of the United States for three months from that date, the pay of each volunteer or militiaman commencing from the date of his enlistment.

Under the call for three-years volunteers 50,000 men will be accepted as raised and reported by the respective State governors.

By order of the President:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.

NEW YORK, _June 30, 1862_.

_To the Governors of the several States_:

The capture of New Orleans, Norfolk, and Corinth by the national forces has enabled the insurgents to concentrate a large force at and about Richmond, which place we must take with the least possible delay; in fact, there will soon be no formidable insurgent force except at Richmond. With so large an army there, the enemy can threaten us on the Potomac and elsewhere. Until we have reestablished the national authority, all these places must be held, and we must keep a respectable force in front of Washington. But this, from the diminished strength of our Army by sickness and casualties, renders an addition to it necessary in order to close the struggle which has been prosecuted for the last three months with energy and success. Rather than hazard the misapprehension of our military condition and of groundless alarm by a call for troops by proclamation, I have deemed it best to address you in this form. To accomplish the object stated we require without delay 150,000 men, including those recently called for by the Secretary of War. Thus reenforced our gallant Army will be enabled to realize the hopes and expectations of the Government and the people.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

JUNE 28, 1862.

The PRESIDENT:

The undersigned, governors of States of the Union, impressed with the belief that the citizens of the States which they respectively represent are of one accord in the hearty desire that the recent successes of the Federal arms may be followed up by measures which must insure the speedy restoration of the Union, and believing that, in view of the present state of the important military movements now in progress and the reduced condition of our effective forces in the field, resulting from the usual and unavoidable casualties in the service, the time has arrived for prompt and vigorous measures to be adopted by the people in support of the great interests committed to your charge, respectfully request, if it meets with your entire approval, that you at once call upon the several States for such number of men as may be required to fill up all military organizations now in the field, and add to the armies heretofore organized such additional number of men as may, in your judgment, be necessary to garrison and hold all the numerous cities and military positions that have been captured by our armies, and to speedily crush the rebellion that still exists in several of the Southern States, thus practically restoring to the civilized world our great and good Government. All believe that the decisive moment is near at hand, and to that end the people of the United States are desirous to aid promptly in furnishing all reenforcements that you may deem needful to sustain our Government.

ISRAEL WASHBURN, Jr., Governor of Maine; H.S. BERRY, Governor of
New Hampshire; FREDERICK HOLBROOK, Governor of Vermont; WILLIAM A.
BUCKINGHAM, Governor of Connecticut; E.D. MORGAN, Governor of New
York; CHARLES S. OLDEN, Governor of New Jersey; A.G. CURTIN, Governor
of Pennsylvania; A.W. BRADFORD, Governor of Maryland, F.H. PEIRPOINT,
Governor of Virginia; AUSTIN BLAIR, Governor of Michigan; J.B. TEMPLE,
President Military Board of Kentucky; ANDREW JOHNSON, Governor of
Tennessee; H.R. GAMBLE, Governor of Missouri; O.P. MORTON, Governor
of Indiana; DAVID TODD, Governor of Ohio; ALEXANDER RAMSEY, Governor
of Minnesota; RICHARD YATES, Governor of Illinois; EDWARD SALOMON,
Governor of Wisconsin.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, July 1, 1862_.

Gentlemen: Fully concurring in the wisdom of the views expressed to me in so patriotic a manner by you in the communication of the 28th day of June, I have decided to call into the service an additional force of 300,000 men. I suggest and recommend that the troops should be chiefly of infantry. The quota of your State would be ------. I trust that they may be enrolled without delay, so as to bring this unnecessary and injurious civil war to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion. An order fixing the quotas of the respective States will be issued by the War Department to-morrow.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, July 11, 1862_.

_Ordered_, That Major-General Henry W. Halleck be assigned to command the whole land forces of the United States as General in Chief, and that he repair to this capital as soon as he can with safety to the positions and operations within the department under his charge.

A. LINCOLN.

Whereas, in the judgment of the President, the public safety does require that the railroad line called and known as the Southwest Branch of the Pacific Railroad in the State of Missouri be repaired, extended, and completed from Rolla to Lebanon, in the direction to Springfield, in the said State, the same being necessary to the successful and economical conduct of the war and to the maintenance of the authority of the Government in the Southwest:

Therefore, under and in virtue of the act of Congress entitled "An act to authorize the President of the United States in certain cases to take possession of railroad and telegraph lines, and for other purposes," approved January 31, 1862, it is--

_Ordered_, That the portion of the said railroad line which reaches from Rolla to Lebanon be repaired, extended, and completed, so as to be made available for the military uses of the Government, as speedily as may be. And inasmuch as, upon the part of the said line from Rolla to the stream called Little Piney a considerable portion of the necessary work has already been done by the railroad company, and the road to this extent may be completed at comparatively small cost, it is ordered that the said line from Rolla to and across Little Piney be first completed, and as soon as possible.

The Secretary of War is charged with the execution of this order. And to facilitate the speedy execution of the work, he is directed, at his discretion, to take possession and control of the whole or such part of the said railroad line, and the whole or such part of the rolling stock, offices, shops, buildings, and all their appendages and appurtenances, as he may judge necessary or convenient for the early completion of the road from Rolla to Lebanon.

Done at the city of Washington, July 11, 1862.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

GENERAL ORDERS, No. 82.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, July 21, 1862_.

The following order has been received from the President of the United States:

Representations have been made to the President by the ministers of various foreign powers in amity with the United States that subjects of such powers have during the present insurrection been obliged or required by military authorities to take an oath of general or qualified allegiance to this Government. It is the duty of all aliens residing in the United States to submit to and obey the laws and respect the authority of the Government. For any proceeding or conduct inconsistent with this obligation and subversive of that authority they may rightfully be subjected to military restraints when this may be necessary. But they can not be required to take an oath of allegiance to this Government, because it conflicts with the duty they owe to their own sovereigns. All such obligations heretofore taken are therefore remitted and annulled. Military commanders will abstain from imposing similar obligations in future, and will in lieu thereof adopt such other restraints of the character indicated as they shall find necessary, convenient, and effectual for the public safety. It is further directed that whenever any order shall be made affecting the personal liberty of an alien reports of the same and of the causes thereof shall be made to the War Department for the consideration of the Department of State.

By order of the Secretary of War: