PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL WAR ORDER, No. 1
EXECUTIVE MANSION,
Washington, January 31, 1862.
Ordered, That all the disposable force of the Army of the
Potomac, after providing safely for the defense of Washington, be formed into
an expedition for the immediate object of seizing and occupying a point upon
the railroad southwestward of what is known as Manassas Junction, all details
to be in the discretion of the Commander-in-Chief, and the expedition to move
before or on the 22d day of February next.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
5 (Serial No. 5), p. 41
