Selected Correspondance of Abraham Lincoln 1863 Proclamation Recalling Soldiers To Their Regiments
by Abraham Lincoln
MARCH 10, 1863
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:
A Proclamation
In pursuance of the twenty-sixth section of the act of Congress
entitled "An act for enrolling and calling out the national forces,
and for other purposes," approved on the 3d day of March, 1863, I,
Abraham Lincoln, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and
Navy of the United States, do hereby order and command that all
soldiers enlisted or drafted in the service of the United States now
absent from their regiments without leave shall forthwith return to
their respective regiments.
And I do hereby declare and proclaim that all soldiers now absent
from their respective regiments without leave who shall, on or before
the first day of April, 1863, report themselves at any rendezvous
designated by the general orders of the War Department No. 58,
hereto annexed, may be restored to their respective regiments without
punishment, except the forfeiture of pay and allowances during their
absence; and all who do not return within the time above specified
shall be arrested as deserters and punished as the law provides; and
Whereas evil-disposed and disloyal persons at sundry places have
enticed and procured soldiers to desert and absent themselves from
their regiments, thereby weakening the strength of the armies and
prolonging the war, giving aid and comfort to the enemy, and cruelly
exposing the gallant and faithful soldiers remaining in the ranks to
increased hardships and danger:
I do therefore call upon all patriotic and faithful citizens to
oppose and resist the aforementioned dangerous and treasonable
crimes, and to aid in restoring to their regiments all soldiers
absent without leave, and to assist in the execution of the act of
Congress "for enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for
other purposes," and to support the proper authorities in the
prosecution and punishment of offenders against said act and in
suppressing the insurrection and rebellion.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand. Done at the city
of Washington, this tenth day of March, A.D. 1863, and of the
independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War.