EXECUTIVE MANSION, _March 10 1863_.
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 1st
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 10th day of March, A.D. 1863,
and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh.