Sixth. That the Secretary of the Navy take possession of all-ublic property belonging to the Navy Department, within said geographical limits, and put in operation all acts of Congress in relation to naval affairs having application to the said State. Seventh. That the Secretary of the Interior put in force the laws relating to the Interior Department, applicable to the geographical limits aforesaid. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the great seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this twenty- [L. S.] By the President: WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. 1865, June 13—A like proclamation was issued, appointing WILLIAM L. SHARKEY, Provisional Governor of Mississippi. 1865, June 17-JAMES JOHNSON appointed Pro- 1865, June 21-LEWIS E. PARSONS appointed 1865, July 13-WILLIAM MARVIN appointed Orders Respecting Freedmen. EXECUTIVE MANSION, CIRCULAR NO. 15. WAR DEPARTMENT, BUREAU REFUGEES, FREEDMEN, AND ABANDONED LANDS, WASHINGTON, D. C., September 12, 1865. I. Circular No. 13, of July 28, 1865, from this bureau, and all portions of circulars from this bureau conflicting with the provisions of this circular, are hereby rescinded. II. This bureau has charge of such "tracts of land within the insurrectionary States as shall have been abandoned, or to which the United States shall have acquired title by confiscation or sale, or otherwise," and no such lands now in its possession shall be surrendered to any claimant except as hereinafter provided. III. Abandoned lands are defined in section 2 of the act of Congress approved July 2, 1864, as lands, "the lawful owner whereof shall be voluntarily absent therefrom, and engaged either in arms or otherwise in aiding or encouraging the rebellion." IV. Land will not be regarded as confiscated until it has been condemned and sold by decree of the United States court for the district in which the property may be found, and the title thereto thus vested in the United States. V. Upon its appearing satisfactorily to any assistant commissioner that any property under his control is not abandoned as above defined, and that the United States has acquired no title to it by confiscation, sale or otherwise, he will formally surrender it to the authorized claimant or claimants, promptly reporting his action to the Commissioner. WASHINGTON, D. C., June 2, 1865. Whereas, By an act of Congress, approved March 3, 1865, there was established in the War Department a Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, and to which, in accordance with the said act of Congress, is committed the supervision and management of all aban- VI. Assistant commissioners will prepare accudoned lands, and the control of all subjects relat-rate descriptions of all confiscated and abandoned ing to refugees and freedmen from rebel States, lands under their control, keeping a record thereor from any district of country within the terri- of themselves, and forwarding monthly to the tory embraced in the operations of the army, Commissioner copies of these descriptions in the under such rules and regulations as may be pre- manner prescribed in circular No. 10, of July scribed by the head of the bureau, and approved 11, 1865, from this bureau. by the President; and whereas, it appears that They will set apart so much of said lands as is the management of abandoned lands, and sub- necessary for the immediate use of loyal refujects relating to refugees and freedmen, as afore-gees and freedmen, being careful to select for this said, have been, and still are, by orders based on military exigencies, or legislation based on previous statutes, partly in the hands of military officers disconnected with said bureau, and partly in charge of officers of the Treasury Department; it is therefore Ordered, That all officers of the Treasury Department, all military officers and others in the service of the United States, turn over to the authorized officers of said bureau all abandoned lands and property contemplated in said act of Congress, approved March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-five, establishing the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, that may now be under or within their control. They will also turn over to such officers all funds collected by tax or purpose those lands which most clearly fall under the control of this bureau, which selection must be submitted to the Commissioner for his approval. The specific division of lands so set apart into lots, and the rental or sale thereof, according to section 4 of the law establishing the bureau, will be completed as soon as practicable, and reported to the Commissioner. VII. Abandoned lands held by this bureau may be restored to owners pardoned by the President, by the assistant commissioners, to whom applications for such restoration should be for warded, so far as practicable, through the super intendents of the districts in which the lands are situated. Each application must be accompanied by1st. Evidence of special pardon by the Presilent, or a copy of the oath of amnesty precribed in the President's proclamation of May 9, 1865, when the applicant is not included in ny of the classes therein excepted from the benefits of said oath. 2d. Proof of title. Officers of the bureau through whom the ap›lication passes will indorse thereon such facts is may assist the assistant commissioner in his lecision, stating especially the use made by the bureau of the land. VIII. No land under cultivation by loyal refugees or freedmen will be restored under this circular, until the crops now growing shall be secured for the benefit of the cultivators, unless full and just compensation be made for their labor and its products, and for their expendiO. O. HOWARD, ures. Approved: Major General, Commissioner. ANDREW JOHNSON, President of the United States. For the Return to Persons Pardoned, of their EXECUTIVE OFFICE, August 16, 1865. To O. O. Howard, President United States. Maj. General, Com'r Freedmen's Affairs. Respecting Commercial Intercourso, and the Whereas by my proclamation of the twentyninth of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, all restrictions upon internal, * Extract from letter of General Howard, April 23, 1866, in reply to resolution of the House of Representatives of March 5, 1866: In complying with these definite instructions, the bureau has been compelled to part with the greater portion of the property once under its control. Except in the very few cases where property has been actually sold under the act of July 17, 1862, and in that portion of South Carolina and Georgia embraced in the provisions of General Sher man's Field Order No. 15, its tenure of property has been too uncertain to justify allotments to freedmen. Property seized under act of July, 1862, and re- Abandoned property not allotted to freedmen re- Total... Acres. 15,452 domestic, and commercial intercourse, with certain exceptions therein specified and set forth, were removed "in such parts of the States of Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and so much of Louisiana as lies east of the Mississippi river, as shall be embraced within the lines of national military occupation; **" And whereas by my proclamation of the twenty-second of May, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, for reasons therein given, it was declared that certain ports of the United States which had been previously closed against foreign commerce, should, with certain specified exceptions be reopened to such commerce, on and after the first day of July next, subject to the laws of the United States, and in pursuance of such regulations as might be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury; And whereas I am satisfactorily informed, that dangerous combinations against the laws of the United States no longer exist within the State of Tennessee; that the insurrection heretofore existing within said State has been suppressed; that within the boundaries thereof the authority of the United States is undisputed; and that such officers of the United States as have been duly commissioned are in the undisturbed exercise of their official functions: Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby declare that all restrictions upon internal, domestic, and coastwise intercourse and trade, and upon the removal of products of States heretofore declared in insurrection, reserving and excepting only those relating to contraband of war, as hereinafter recited, and also those which relate to the reservation of the rights of the United States to property purchased in the territory of an enemy, heretofore imposed in the territory of the United States east of the Mississippi river, are annulled, and I do hereby direct that they be forthwith removed; and that on and after the first day of July next all restriction upon foreign commerce with said ports, with the exception and reservation aforesaid, be likewise removed; and that the commerce of such States shall be conducted under the supervision of the regularly appointed officers of the customs provided by law; and such officers of the customs shall receive any captured and abandoned property that may be turned over to them, under the law, by the military or naval forces of the United States, and dispose of such property as shall be directed by the Secretary of the Treasury. The following articles contraband of war are excepted from the effect of this proclamation: arms, ammunition, all articles from which ammunition is made, and gray uniforms and cloth. the insurrection, so far as it relates to, and And I hereby also proclaim and declare that within the State of Tennessee, and the inhabitants of the said State of Tennessee as re-organized and constituted under their recently adopted 14,652 constitution and re organization, and accepted by them, is suppressed, and therefore, also, that all the disabilities and disqualifications attach430,104" ing to said State and the inhabitants thereof 400,000 consequent upon any proclamations, issued by | hand and caused the seal of the United States to virtue of the fifth section of the act entitled An be affixed. act further to provide for the collection of duties on imports and for other purposes," approved Done at the city of Washington this twentythird day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and the thirteenth day of July, one thousand eight [L. S.] sixty-five, and of the Independence of hundred and sixty-one, are removed. the United States the eighty-ninth. ANDREW JOHNSON. W. HUNTER, Acting Secretary of State. Further Removal of Restrictions, August 29, But nothing herein contained shall be considered or construed as in any wise changing or impairing any of the penalties and forfeitures By the President: for treason heretofore incurred under the laws of the United States, or any of the provisions, restrictions, or disabilities set forth in my proclamation, bearing date the twenty-ninth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and sixtyfive, or as impairing existing regulations for the suspension of the habeas corpus, and the exercise of military law in cases where it shall be necessary for the general public safety and welfare during the existing insurrection; nor shall this proclamation affect, or in any way impair, any laws heretofore passed by Congress, and duly approved by the President, or any proclamations or orders, issued by him, during the aforesaid insurrection, abolishing slavery, or in any way affecting the relations of slavery, whether of persons or of property; but on the contrary, all such laws and proclamations heretofore made or issued are expressly saved, and declared to be in full force and virtue. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. 1865. Whereas by my proclamations of the thirteenth and twenty-fourth of June, one thousand. eight hundred and sixty-five, removing restrictions, in part, upon internal, domestic, and coastwise intercourse and trade with those States recently declared in insurrection, certain articles were excepted from the effect of said proclamations as contraband of war; and whereas the necessity for restricting trade in said articles has! now, in a great measure, ceased: It is hereby ordered, that on and after the 1st day of September, 1865, all restrictions aforesaid be removed, so that the articles declared by the said proclamations to be contraband of war may be imported into and sold in said States, subject only to such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe. In testimony 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 thirteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and [SEAL.] sixty-five, and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty- [L. S.] ninth. By the President: ANDREW JOHNSON. Done at the city of Washington this twentyninth day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninetieth. ANDREW JOHNSON. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. By the President: Blockade Rescinded, June 23, 1865. Whereas by the proclamation of the President of the fifteenth and twenty-seventh of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, a blockade of certain ports of the United States was set on foot; but whereas the reasons for that measure have ceased to exist: WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. Passports for Paroled Prisoners. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, August 25, 1865. Paroled prisoners asking passports as citizens of the United States, and against whom no special charges may be pending, will be furnished Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew with passports upon application therefor to the Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby Department of State in the usual form. Such declare and proclaim the blockade aforesaid to passports will, however, be issued upon the conbe rescinded as to all the ports aforesaid, includ-dition that the applicants do not return to the ing that of Galveston and other ports west of the Mississippi river, which ports will be open to foreign commerce on the first of July next, on the terms and conditions set forth in my proclamation of the twenty-second of May last. It is to be understood, however, that the blockade thus rescinded was an international measure for the purpose of protecting the sovereign rights of the United States. The greater or less subversion of civil authority in the region to which it applied, and the impracticability of at once restoring that in due efficiency, may, for a season, make it advisable to employ the army and navy of the United States towards carrying the laws into effect, wherever such employment may be necessary. United States without leave of the President. Other persons implicated in the rebellion, who may wish to go abroad, will apply to the Department of State for passports, and the applications will be disposed of according to the merits of the several cases. By the President of the United States. WILLIAM H. Seward. Paroling certain State Prisoners. EXECUTIVE OFFICE, WASHINGTON, October 11, 1865. Whereas the following named persons, to wit: John A. Campbell, of Alabama; John H. Reagan, of Texas; Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia; George A. Trenholm, of South CaroIn testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my | lina; and Charles Clark, of Mississippi, lately engaged in rebellion against the United States Government, who are now in close custody, have made their submission to the authority of the United States and applied to the President for pardon under his proclamation; and whereas, the authority of the Federal Government is sufficiently restored in the aforesaid States to admit of the enlargement of said persons from close custody, it is ordered that they be released on giving their respective paroles to appear at such time and place as the President may designate, to answer any charge that he may direct to be preferred against them; and also that they will respectively abide until further orders in the places herein designated, and not depart therefrom: John A. Campbell, in the State of Alabama; John H. Reagan, in the State of Texas; Alexander H. Stephens, in the State of Georgia; George A. Trenholm, in the State of South Carolina; and Charles Clark, in the State of Mississippi. And if the President should grant his pardon to any of said persons, such person's parole will be thereby discharged. ANDREW JOHNSON, President. Martial Law Withdrawn from Kentucky, October 12, 1865. Whereas by a proclamation of the fifth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixtyfour, the President of the United States, when the civil war was flagrant, and when combinations were in progress in Kentucky for the purpose of inciting insurgent raids into that State, directed that the proclamation suspending the writ of habeas corpus should be made effectual in Kentucky, and that martial law should be established there and continue until said proclamation should be revoked or modified; And whereas since then the danger of insurgent raids into Kentucky has substantially passed away: Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution, do hereby declare that the said proclamation of the fifth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, shall be, and is hereby, modified in so far that martial law shall be no longer in force in Kentucky from and after the date hereof. In testimony 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 twelfth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixtyfive, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninetieth. ANDREW JOHNSON. [L. S.] By the President: W. HUNTER, Acting Secretary of State. Annulling the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus, December 1, 1865. Whereas by the proclamation of the President of the United States of the fifteenth day of September, one thousand eight hundred and sixtythree, the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus was, in certain cases therein set forth, suspended throughout the United States; And whereas the reasons for that suspension may be regarded as having ceased in some of the States and Territories: Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim and declare that the suspension aforesaid, and all other proclamations and orders suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the States and Territories of the United States, are revoked and annulled excepting as to the States of Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas, the District of Columbia, and the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona. 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 December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, and of the Independence of the United States of America the ninetieth. [L. S.] Whereas, by proclamations of the fifteenth and nineteenth of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, the President of the United States, in virtue of the power vested in him by the Constitution and the laws, declared that the laws of the United States were opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law; And whereas, by another proclamation made on the sixteenth day of August, in the same year, in pursuance of an act of Congress approved July thirteenth, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, the inhabitants of the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida (except the inhabitants of that part of the State of Virginia lying west of the Alleghany mountains, and to such other parts of that State and the other States before named, as might maintain a loyal adhesion to the Union and the Constitution, or might be from time to time occupied and controlled by forces of the United States engaged in the dispersion of insurgents) were declared to be in a state of insurrection against the United States; And whereas, by another proclamation of the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, issued in pursuance of an act of Congress approved June 7, in the same year, the insurrection was declared to be still existing in the States aforesaid, with the exception of certain specified counties in the State of Virginia; And whereas, by another proclamation made on the second day of April, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in pursuance of the act of Congress of July 13, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, the exceptions named in the proclamation of August 16, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one were revoked, and the inhabitants of the States of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Florida, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties of Virginia designated as West Virginia, and the ports of New Orleans, Key West, Port Royal, and Beaufort, in South Carolina.) were declared to be still in a state of insurrection against the United States. And whereas the House of Representatives, on the 22d day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, adopted a resolution in the words following, namely: Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Congress of the United States, That the pres ent deplorable civil war has been forced upon the country by the disunionists of the southern States, now in revolt against the constitutional Government, and in arms around the capital; that in this national emergency Congress, banishing all feelings of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole country; that this war is not waged on our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States; but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired; that as soon as these objects are accomplished, the war ought to cease." And whereas the Senate of the United States, on the 25th day of July, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, adopted a resolution in the words following, to wit: to the authority of the United States in the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida, and the laws can be sustained and enforced therein by the proper civil authority, State or Federal, and the people of the said States are well and loyally disposed, and have conformed or will conform in their legislation to the condition of affairs growing out of the amendment to the Constitution of the United States, prohibiting slavery within the limits and jurisdiction of the United States; And whereas, in view of the before recited premises, it is the manifest determination of the American people that no State, of its own will, has the right or the power to go out of, or separate itself from, or be separated from the American Union, and that therefore each State ought to remain and constitute an integral part of the United States; And whereas the people of the several beforementioned States have, in the manner aforesaid, given satisfactory evidence that they acquiesce in this sovereign and important resolution of national unity; And whereas it is believed to be a fundamental principle of government that people who have revolted, and who have been overcome and subdued, must either be dealt with so as to induce them voluntarily to become friends, or else they must be held by absolute military power, or devastated, so as to prevent them from ever again doing harm as enemies, which last-named policy is abhorrent to humanity and freedom; And whereas the Constitution of the United States provides for constituent communities only as States and not as Territories, dependencies, provinces, or protectorates; And whereas such constituent States must necessarily be and by the Constitution and laws of the United States are made equals and placed upon a like footing as to political rights, îmmunities, dignity, and power, with the several States with which they are united; Resolved, That the present. deplorable civil war has been forced upon the country by the disunionists of the southern States, now in revolt against the constitutional Government, and in arms around the capital; that in this national emergency Congress, banishing all feeling of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole country; that this war is And whereas the observance of political equalnot prosecuted on our part in any spirit of op-ity as a principle of right and justice is well calpression nor for any purpose of conquest or sub-culated to encourage the people of the aforesaid jugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or inter- States to be and become more and more constant fering with the rights or established institutions and persevering in their renewed allegiance; of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and all laws made in pursuance thereof, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired; that as soon as these objects are accomplished, the war ought to cease.' And whereas these resolutions, though not joint or concurrent in form, are substantially identical, and as such may be regarded as having expressed the sense of Congress upon the subject to which they relate; And whereas, by my proclamation of the thirteenth day of June last, the insurrection in the State of Tennessee was declared to have been suppressed, the authority of the United States therein to be undisputed, and such United States officers as had been duly commissioned to be in the undisputed exercise of their official functions; And whereas there now exists no organized armed resistance of misguided citizens or others And whereas standing armies, military occupation, martial law, military tribunals, and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus are, in time of peace, dangerous to public liberty, incompatible with the individual rights of the citizen, contrary to the genius and spirit of our free institutions, and exhaustive of the national resources, and ought not, therefore, to be sanctioned or allowed, except in cases of actual necessity, for repelling invasion or suppressing insurrection or rebellion; And whereas the policy of the Government of the United States, from the beginning of the insurrection to its overthrow and final suppression, has been in conformity with the principles herein set forth and enumerated: Now, therefore, I, Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim and declare that the insurrection which heretofore existed in the States of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, |