Whereas reliable information has been received that hostile Indians
within the limits of the United States have been furnished with arms and
munitions of war by persons dwelling in conterminous foreign territory,
and are thereby enabled to prosecute their savage warfare upon the
exposed and sparse settlements of the frontier:
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim and direct that all persons
detected in that nefarious traffic shall be arrested and tried by
court-martial at the nearest military post, and if convicted shall
receive the punishment due to their deserts.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of
the United States to be affixed.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, this 17th day of March, A.D. 1865, and
of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.