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Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation Calling Out the Militia

This information is from Vol. I, pp. 5-6 of A Record of the Commissioned Officers, Non-commissioned Officers and Privates, of the Regiments which were organized in the State of New York and called into the service of the United States to assist in supressing the rebellion caused by the secession of some of the Southern States from the Union, A. D. 1861, as taken from the Muster-in Rolls on file in the Adjutant General's Office, S. N. Y., (Albany, N. Y.: Comstock & Cassidy, Printers, 1864). It is in the Reference collection of the Johnstown Public Library at LHR 973.7 N531, and page images may be viewed at the University of Michigan's Making of America project project and Google Books.

By the President of the United States of America.

A Proclamation.

Whereas the laws of the United States have been for some time past, and now are opposed and the execution thereof obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceeding, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law:

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the Laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth, the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the Laws to be duly executed.

The details for this object will be immediately communicated to the State authorities through the War Department.

I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government; and to redress wrongs already long enough endured.

I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to repossess the forts, places and property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event, the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects aforesaid, to avoid any devastation, any destruction of, or interference with property, or any disturbance of peaceful citizens in any part of the country.

And I hereby command the persons composing the combinations aforesaid to disperse, and retire peaceably to their respective abodes, within twenty days from this date.

Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, convene both Houses of Congress. Senators and Representatives are therefore summoned to assemble at their respective chambers, at twelve o'clock, noon, on Thursday, the fourth day of July next, then and there to consider and determine such measures, as, in their wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth.

[L. S.] Abraham Lincoln.

By the President:

William H. Seward, Secretary of State.

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https://www.schenectadyhistory.org/military/civilwar/mr/lincoln_proclamation.html updated February 12, 2018

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