Page images
PDF
EPUB
[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small]

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

[SEAL.]

Done at the city of Washington, this 1st day of January, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.

[blocks in formation]

I have just read your commanding general's preliminary report of the battle of Fredericksburg. Although you were not successful, the attempt was not an error nor the failure other than an accident. The courage with which you in an open field maintained the contest against an intrenched foe and the consummate skill and success with which you crossed and recrossed the river in face of the enemy show that you possess all the qualities of a great army, which will yet give victory to the cause of the country and of popular government. Condoling with the mourners for the dead and sympathizing with the severely wounded, I congratulate you that the number of both is comparatively so small.

I tender to you, officers and soldiers, the thanks of the nation.

Hon. GIDEON WELLES,

Secretary of the Navy.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, Washington, January 4, 1863.

DEAR SIR: As many persons who come well recommended for loyalty and service to the Union cause, and who are refugees from rebel oppression in the State of Virginia, make application to me for authority and permission to remove their families and property to protection within the Union lines by means of our armed gunboats on the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay, you are hereby requested to hear and consider all such applications and to grant such assistance to this class of persons as in your judgment their merits may render proper and as may in each case be consistent with the perfect and complete efficiency of the naval service and with military expediency. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

M P-VOL V-19

Ordered by the President:

EXECUTIVE MANSION, January 8, 1863.

Whereas on the 13th day of November, 1862, it was ordered that the Attorney-General be charged with the superintendence and direction of all proceedings to be had under the act of Congress of the 17th of July, entitled "An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, and to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes,' in so far as may concern the seizure, prosecution, and condemnation of the estate, property, and effects of rebels and traitors, as mentioned and provided for in the fifth, sixth, and seventh sections of the said act of Congress; and

Whereas since that time it has been ascertained that divers prosecutions have been instituted in the courts of the United States for the condemnation of property of rebels and traitors under the act of Congress of August 6, 1861, entitled "An act to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes," which equally require the superintending care of the Government: Therefore

It is now further ordered by the President, That the Attorney-General be charged with superintendence and direction of all proceedings to be had under the said last-mentioned act (the act of 1861) as fully in all respects as under the first-mentioned act (the act of 1862).

By the President:

EDW. BATES,

Attorney-General.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

Whereas by the twelfth section of an act of Congress entitled "An act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Mis souri River to the Pacific Ocean, and to secure to the Government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes," approved July 1, 1862, it is made the duty of the President of the United States to deter mine the uniform width of the track of the entire line of the said railroad and the branches of the same; and

Whereas application has been made to me by the Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western Railroad Company, a company authorized by the act of Congress above mentioned to construct a branch of said railroad, to fix the gauge thereof:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, do determine that the uniform width of the track of said railroad and all its branches which are provided for in the aforesaid act of Congress shall be 5 feet, and that this order be filed in the office of the Secretary of the Interior for the information and guidance of all concerned, Done at the city of Washington, this 21st day of January, A. D. 1863. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

PROCLAMATION.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas objects of interest to the United States require that the Senate should be convened at 12 o'clock on the 4th of March next to receive and act upon such communications as may be made to it on the part of the Executive:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, have considered it to be my duty to issue this my proclamation, declaring that an extraordinary occasion requires the Senate of the United States to convene for the transaction of business at the Capitol, in the city of Washington, on the 4th day of March next, at 12 o'clock at noon on that day, of which all who shall at that time be entitled to act as members of that body are hereby required to take notice. Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, at Washing[SEAJ..] ton, the 28th day of February, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh. ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

Secretary of State.

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

To the Senate of the United States:

WASHINGTON, March 5, 1863.

For the reasons stated by the Secretary of War, I present the nomination of the persons named in the accompanying communication for confirmation of the rank which they held at the time they fell in the service of their country.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, March 5, 1863.

SIR: The following-named persons having fallen in battle after having received appointments to the grades for which they are herein nominated, I have the honor to propose that their names be submitted to the Senate for confirmation of their rank, as a token of this Government's approbation of their distinguished merit. This has been the practice of the Department in similar cases, brevet nominations and confirmations having been made after the decease of gallant officers.

To be major-generais.

Brigadier-General Philip Kearny, of the United States Volunteers, July 14, 1862. (Killed in the battle of Chantilly.)

Brigadier-General Israel B. Richardson, of the United States Volunteers, July 4, 1862. (Died of wounds received at the battle of Antietam. )

Brigadier-General Jesse L. Reno, of the United States Volunteers, July 18, 1862. <Killed in the battle of South Mountain.)

To be brigadier-general.

Captain William R. Terrill, of the Fifth United States Artillery, September 9, 1862. (Killed in the battle of Perryville.)

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,

EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

To the Senate of the United States:

WASHINGTON, March 5, 1863.

For the reasons stated by the Secretary of War, I present the nomination of the persons named in the accompanying communication for confirmation of the rank of major-general, in which capacity they were acting at the time they fell in battle.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, March 5, 1863.

SIR: The following-named persons having fallen in battle while performing the duty and exercising command as major-generals, a rank which they had earned in the service of their country, I have the honor to propose that their names be submitted to the Senate for confirmation, as a token of the Government's appreciation of their distinguished merit. This is in accordance with the practice in similar cases, brevet nominations and confirmations having been made after the decease of gallant officers.

To be major-generals of volunteers.

Brigadier-General Joseph K. F. Mansfield, of the United States Army, July 19, 1862. (Died of wounds received in the battle of Antietam, Md.) Brigadier-General Isaac I. Stevens, of the United States Volunteers, July 18, 1862. (Killed in the battle of Chantilly, Va.)

I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,

EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, March 12, 1862.

To the Senate of the United States:

I herewith transmit to the Senate, for its consideration and ratification, a treaty with the chiefs and headmen of the Chippewas of the Mississippi and the Pillagers and Lake Winnibigoshish bands of Chippewa Indians

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

« PreviousContinue »