ment. In other respects carry out my orders on that subject. General Sturgis does not command your division. Send no one here without orders from these headquarters.

H. W. HALLECK.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

Commanding in the Department of Missouri:

GENERAL: As an insurrection exists in the United States and is in arms in the State of Missouri, you are hereby authorized and empowered to suspend the writ of habeas corpus within the limits of the military division under your command, and to exercise martial law as you find it necessary, in your discretion, to secure the public safety and the authority of the United States.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed, at Washington, this second day of December, A. D. 1861.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President:

WILLIAM H. SEWARD,

Secretary of State.

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI, Numbers 24.
Saint Louis, December 2, 1861.

Brigadier General George W. Collum, Colonel George Thom, Lieutenant Colonel James Totten, Lieutenant Colonel J. B. McPherson, and Captain Franklin D. Callender will constitute a board to examine and report upon the defenses of this city.; They will make a reconnaissance of the country immediately adjacent, the approaches, barracks, camps, &c., and examine the fortifications which have been erected, particularly with reference to the location, plan strength, present and required garrisons, accommodations for troops, &c. They will state or planned; and, if so, what locations and plans ought to have ben adopted. They will also report how these defects, if any be found, can now be best remedied, so as to place this city in the best state of defense. In this relation they will give particular attention to the present position of the barracks and camps. The armament of each fort, its supply of ordnance stores, present and required, will be examined and reported.

A brief preliminary report on these points will be made to the commanding general as soon as possible, to be followed by a more detailed and formal statement, accompanied by such sketches, maps, and drawings as may be necessary for a full understanding of the whole subject.

This board will also inquire into and report upon the construction and cost of these works, whether built by the troops, by hired labor, or by contract; if by day labor, the amount paid or due, and if contract, the terms of the contracts, and whether or not if works for or allowed was the real ammount of work done in conformity with such contract or contracts, and also whether the contract were fair and just. In making investigation they are authorized to call for and examine any papers in the quartermaster or other departments in this command, and will call upon the commissioners of claims ap-

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