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 eighteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
TELEGRAM TO COMMANDER BLAKE.
EXECUTIVE, MANSION, February 19, 1864.
COMMANDER GEORGE S. BLAKE, Commandant Naval Academy, Newport, R. I.:
I desire the case of Midshipman C. Lyon re-examined and if not clearly inconsistent I shall be much obliged to have the recommendation changed.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM FROM WARREN JORDAN.
NASHVILLE, February 20, 1864.
HON. W. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State, Washington, D.C.:
In county and State elections, must citizens of Tennessee take the oath prescribed by Governor Johnson, or will the President's oath of amnesty entitle them to vote? I have been appointed to hold the March election in Cheatham County, and wish to act understandingly.
WARREN JORDAN.
WASHINGTON, February 20, 1864.
WARREN JORDAN, NASHVILLE:
In county elections you had better stand by Governor Johnson's plan; otherwise you will have conflict and confusion. I have seen his plan.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL ROSECRANS.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C., February 22, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL ROSECRANS, Saint LOUIS, MO.:
Colonel Sanderson will be ordered to you to-day, a mere omission that it was not done before. The other questions in your despatch I am not yet prepared to answer.
A. LINCOLN.
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL STEELE.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C., February 22, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL STEELE, Little Rock, Ark.:
Yours of yesterday received. Your conference with citizens approved.
Let the election be on the i4th of March as they agreed.
A. LINCOLN.
TO GENERAL F. STEELE.
WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, February 25, 1864.
MAJOR-GENERAL STEELE, Little Rock, Arkansas:
General Sickles is not going to Arkansas. He probably will make a tour down the Mississippi and home by the gulf and ocean, but he will not meddle in your affairs.
At one time I did intend to have him call on you and explain more fully than I could do by letter or telegraph, so as to avoid a difficulty coming of my having made a plan here, while the convention made one there, for reorganizing Arkansas; but even his doing that has been given up for more than two weeks. Please show this to Governor Murphy to save me telegraphing him.
A. LINCOLN.
DESERTERS DEATH SENTENCES REMITTED
GENERAL ORDERS, NO.76.
WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERALS OFFICE, WASHINGTON, February 26, 1864.
Sentence of Deserters.
The President directs that the sentences of all deserters who have been condemned by court-martial to death, and that have not been otherwise acted upon by him, be mitigated to imprisonment during the war at the Dry Tortugas, Florida, where they will be sent under suitable guards by orders from army commanders.
The commanding generals, who have power to act on proceedings of courts-martial in such cases, are authorized in special cases to restore to duty deserters under sentence, when in their judgment the service will be thereby benefited.
Copies of all orders issued under the foregoing instructions will be immediately forwarded to the Adjutant-General and to the Judge-Advocate General.
By order of the Secretary of War:
B. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant-General FEMALE SPY
TELEGRAM TO GENERAL BUTLER.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, February 26, 1864
MAJOR-GENERAL BUTLER, Fort. Monroe, Va.:
I cannot remember at whose request it was that I gave the pass to Mrs. Bulky. Of course detain her, if the evidence of her being a spy is strong against her.
A. LINCOLN.
TO W. JAYNE.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, February 26, 1864.
HON. W. JAYNE.
DEAR SIR--I dislike to make changes in office so long as they can be avoided. It multiplies my embarrassments immensely. I dislike two appointments when one will do. Send me the name of some man not the present marshal, and I will nominate him to be Provost-Marshal for Dakota.
Yours truly, A. LINCOLN.
TO E. H. EAST.
WASHINGTON, February 27, 1864.
HON. E. H: EAST, Secretary of State, Nashville, Tennessee Your telegram of the twenty-sixth instant asking for a copy of my despatch to Warren Jordan, Esq., at Nashville Press office, has just been referred to me by Governor Johnson. In my reply to Mr. Jordan, which was brief and hurried, I intended to say that in the county and State elections of Tennessee, the oath prescribed in the proclamation of Governor Johnson on the twenty-sixth of January, 1864, ordering an election in Tennessee on the first Saturday in March next, is entirely satisfactory to me as a test of loyalty of all persons proposing or offering to vote in said elections; and coming from him would better be observed and followed. There is no conflict between the oath of amnesty in my proclamation of eighth December, 1863, and that prescribed by Governor Johnson in his proclamation of the twenty-sixth ultimo.
No person who has taken the oath of amnesty of eighth December, 1863, and obtained a pardon thereby, and who intends to observe the same in good faith, should have any objection to taking that prescribed by Governor Johnson as a test of loyalty.
I have seen and examined Governor Johnson's proclamation, and am entirely satisfied with his plan, which is to restore the State government and place it under the control of citizens truly loyal to the Government of the United States.
A. LINCOLN.
Please send above to Governor Johnson.
A. L.
TO SECRETARY STANTON.
EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, February 27, 1864
HON. SECRETARY OF WAR.