Thursday, March 7, 2019

Brevet Lieutenant General Winfield Scott to Brigadier-General Benjamin F. Butler, April 27, 1861

Headquarters of the Army, WASHINGTON, April 27th, 1861
Brig. Gen. B. F. BUTLER

THE undersigned, General-in-Chief of the Army, has received from the President of the U. States the following communication:

“To the Commanding General of the Army of the United States

“You are engaged in repressing an insurrection against the laws of the United States. If at any point on or in the vicinity of the military line which is now used between the City of Philadelphia, via Perryville, Annapolis City, and Annapolis Junction, you find resistance which renders it necessary to suspend the writ of Habeas Corpus for the public safety, you personally, or through the Officer in command at the point where the resistance occurs, are authorized to suspend that Writ.”

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

IN accordance with the foregoing warrant the undersigned devolves on Major General Patterson commanding the Department of Pennsylvania, Delaware & Maryland; Brig. General Butler commanding the Department of Annapolis; and Col. Mansfield commanding the Washington Department, a like authority, each within the limits of his command, to execute in all proper cases the instructions of the President.

WINFIELD SCOTT

SOURCE: Jessie Ames Marshall, Editor, Private and Official Correspondence of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler During the Period of the Civil War, Volume 1: April 1860 – June 1862, p. 51

No comments: