< University of California Berkeley Purchased from ALEXANDER GOLDSTEIN MEMORIAL FUND GENERAL ORDERS, \ WAR DEPARTMENT, I ADJUTANT GEN-ERAL'B OFFICE, No. 1. ) Washington, January 2, 1863. The following Proclamation by the President is published for the information and government of the Army and all concerned : BY THE PRESIDENT OP THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. WHEREAS, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a Proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit : " That r on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thou- sand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever, free ; and the Executive government of the United States, in- cluding the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to re- press such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom : 4 'That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States ; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall, on that day, be in good faith represented in the Congress of the United States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such States shall have participated, shall, in the ab- sence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States:" Now, therefore, I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit : Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Or- leans, including the city of New Orleans, ) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the fo:ty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also -the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth,) and which excepted parts are for the present left precisely as if this Procla- mation were not issued. And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons. And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence ; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages. And I further declare and make known that such persons, of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man ves- sels of all sorts in said service. 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. Done at the city of Washington this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of [L. s.] the Independence of the United States of America the eighty- seventh. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By*the President : WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR : L. THOMAS, Adjutant General. GENERAL ORDERS, \ WAR DEPARTMENT, I ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, No. 3. ) Washington, January 3, 1863. The following Act of Congress is published for the information and government, of all concerned : [PUBLIC No. 5.] AN ACT to facilitate the discharge of disabled soldiers from the army, and the in- spection of convalescent camps and hospitals. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That there shall be added to the present medical corps of the army eight medical inspectors, who shall, immediately after the passage of this act, be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, without regard to their rank when so selected, but with sole regard to qualifica- tions, and who shall have the rank, pay, and emoluments now authorized by law to officers of that grade. SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the officers of the medical inspector's department shall be charged, in addition to the duties now assigned to them by existing laws, with the duty of making regular and frequent inspections of all military general hospitals and convales- cent camps, and shall, upon each such inspection, designate to the sur- geon in charge of such hospitals or camps all soldiers who may be, in their opinion, fit subjects for discharge from the service, on surgeon's certificate of disability, or sufficiently recovered to be returned to their regiments for duty, and shall see that such soldiers are discharged or so returned. And the medical inspecting officers are hereby empowered, under such regulations as may be hereafter established, to direct the return to duty, or the discharge from service, as the case may be, of all soldiers designated by them. Approved December 27, 1862. Bt ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR : E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant General. GENERAL ORDERS, \ WAR DEPARTMENT, (. ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, No. 7. ) Washington, January 7, 1863. The following Act of Congress is published for the information and government of all concerned : [PUBLIC No. 6.] AN ACT to improve the organization of the Cavalry forces. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter each regiment of Cavalry organized in the United States service may have two assistant surgeons, and each company or troop of Cavalry shall have from sixty to seventy-eight privates. Approved January 6, 1863. BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR : E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant General. GENERAL ORDERS, J WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, No. 10. ) Washington, January 10, 1863. I.. The following officers and men have been declared duly exchanged as prisoners of war since the announcement in "General Orders" No. 191, of November 19, 1862: 1. All the officers and enlisted men who were delivered at City Point, Va., from the llth November, 1862, to the 1st January, 1863. ?-v