Proclamation Offering Pardon to Deserters. MARCH II, 1865. In accordance with an Act of Congress, approved March 3, 1865, the President orders all deserters to return to their proper posts, and offers all such returning within sixty days from date a pardon, on condition that they "serve the remainder of their original terms of enlistment, and, in addition thereto, a period equal to the time lost by desertion." Proclamation of Blockade. Whereas, by my proclamations of the nineteenth and twenty-seventh days of April, 1861, the ports of the United States, in the States of Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, were declared to be subject to blockade; but whereas the said blockade has, in consequence of actual military occupation by this government, since been conditionally set aside or relaxed in respect to the ports of Norfolk and Alexandria, in the State of Virginia; Beaufort, in the State of North Carolina; Port Royal, in the State of South Carolina; Pensacola and Fernandina, in the State of Florida; and New Orleans, in the State of Louisiana; And whereas, by the fourth section of the act of Congress, approved on the 13th of July, 1861, entitled "An act further to provide for the collection of duties on imports, and for other purposes," the President, for the reasons therein set forth, is authorized to close certain ports of entry; Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby proclaim that the ports of Richmond, Tappahannock, Cherrystone, Yorktown, and Petersburg, in Virginia; of Camden (Elizabeth City), Edenton, Plymouth, Washington, Newbern, Ocracoke, and Wilmington, in North Carolina; of Charleston, Georgetown, and Beaufort, in South Carolina; of Savannah, St. Mary's, and Brunswick (Darien), in Georgia; of Mobile, in Alabama; of Pearl River (Shieldsborough), Natchez, and Vicksburg, in Mississippi; of St. Augustine, Key West,* St. Mark's (Port Leon), St. John's (Jacksonville), and Appalachicola, in Florida; of Teche (Franklin), in Louisiana; of Galveston, La Salle, Brazos de Santiago (Point Isabel), and Brownsville, in Texas, are hereby closed, and all right of importation, warehousing, and other privileges shall, in respect to the ports aforesaid, cease until they shall have again been opened by order of the President; and if, while said ports are so closed, any ship or vessel from beyond the United States, or having on board any articles subject to duties, shall attempt to enter any such ports, the same, together with its tackle, apparel, furniture, and cargo, shall be forfeited to the United States. In witness, etc. By the President: Abraham Lincoln. William H. Seward, Secretary of State. * Inadvertently included. The mistake was corrected by a supplementary proclamation issued the same day as the present one. |