Congress at their last session passed an act repealing so much of the
military law as imposes the penalty of death on those who "in time of
peace" shall be found guilty of the crime of desertion. To give complete
effect to the benevolent designs of said act, and that the Army may be
correctly informed, it is hereby proclaimed that a free and full pardon
is extended to those who at the date of this order stand in the
character of deserters. All who are under arrest for this offense at the
different posts and garrisons will be forthwith liberated, and return to
their duty. Such as are roaming at large and those who are under
sentence of death are discharged, and are not again to be permitted to
enter the Army, nor at any time hereafter to be enlisted in the service
of the country. It is desirable and highly important that the ranks of
the Army should be composed of respectable, not degraded, materials.
Those who can be so lost to the obligations of a soldier as to abandon a
country which morally they are bound to defend, and which solemnly they
have sworn to serve, are unworthy, and should be confided in no more. By
order of the President of the United States:
JOHN H. EATON,
_Secretary of War_.
Communicated by order of Alexander Macomb, Major-General Commanding the
Army.