WASHINGTON, May 5, 1865.

Major-General HALLECK:

The following dispatch, just received from General Grant, is approved, and you are authorized to act in accordance with it.*

EDWIN M. STANTON,

Secretary of War.

WASHINGTON, May 5, 1865-10 p.m.

Major-General HALLECK:

Can you procure any of the torpedoes made at Richmond in imitation of pieces of coal? You may also find documents or reports touching rebel naval matters, which we should like, to make up a correct history of the rebel navy. We have the proof that the coal shells were made at Richmond.

G. V. FOX,

Assistant Secretary of the Navy.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. MILITARY DIV. OF THE JAMES, No. 6. Richmond, Va., May 5, 1865.

I. From and after the 20th instant all persons found in arms against the authority of the United States in the State of Virginia and North Carolina, will be treated as robbers and outlaws.

II. Any person in these States, who shall assist or advise the organization of guerrilla bands, or the continuation of hostilities against the authority of the United States, will be arrested, tried by a military commission, and punished with death or otherwise less severely, according to the circumstances of the case.

III. All military officers of this division, and especially the commanders of the posts and districts, will be charged with the preservation of good order within their respective commands. They will use their influence to reconcile all differences between freedmen and their former masters, and will assure the freedmen that they will be required to labor for the support of themselves and families, but that they are free to select their own employers and make their own bargains. They must be made to understand that the Government will protect, but cannot support them. All classes must be shown the absolute necessity of planting and cultivating crops this spring and the coming summer, in order to avoid want and starvation in the country.

IV. For minors not cared for by their parents the apprentice system will be introduced as early as practicable. For children too young to labor, and who have been abandoned by their natural protectors, it is advised that houses of refuge be established, where they may be cared for and educated.

V. Interest, as well as humanity, requires that the former masters of the colored race should unite in devising the best measures for ameliorating their condition, and introducing some practical system of hired labor. To this end all military authorities will lend their aid.

By order of Major-General Halleck:

J. C. KELTON,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

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*See May 4, 12 midnight, p.1081.

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