the persons availing themselves of this order will be kept, and a copy of it transmitted to the provost-marshal-general at division headquarters:

Paroled officers and men of the late rebel armies whose homes were, at the date of their armies, in States that have never been in rebellion, and who are not excepted from the benefits of the President's amnesty proclamation, will, upon taking the oath of allegiance, be permitted to return to their former homes in those States.

III. The authority of military commanders in relation to the status of persons residing within the insurrectionary districts is determined and controlled by the proclamations of the President of December 8, 1863, and March 26, 1864, and the Executive order of April 29, 1865, and the provisions of these proclamations and this order cannot be extended, restrained, or otherwise modified by any subordinate authority. Any orders that may have been issued within the limits of this command conflicting with the letter and spirit of these proclamations and this order are revoked, and the attention of all commanders is specially called to the requirements of War Department General Orders, Numbers 242, of August 8, 1864.

By order of Major General E. R. S. Canby:

C. H. DYER,

Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington, D. C., May 22, 1865-11.15 p.m.

Major General F. STEELE,

Montgomery, Ala.:

The ordinance of secession being null and void, there is no necessity for a meeting of the Alabama Legislature to repeal it. There can be no meeting of men elected to office during the rebellion. There is no objection to companies repairing railroads and running them subject to military control and future action of U. S. courts as to ownership of them. The officers and employes of such roads must, however, before beginning such repairs take the oath of allegiance to the United States, and no benefits accruing from such roads can go to disloyal stock-holders.

U. S. GRANT,

Lieutenant-General.

COLUMBUS, May 22, 1865.

Lieutenant Colonel C. T. CHRISTENSEN,

Assistant Adjutant-General:

Your dispatch just received. The Thirteenth Indiana, 616 effective, under Colonel G. M. L. Johnson, has gone to Macon; will reach there to-morrow. The following are the regiments at this point, with their strength: First Louisiana, 454; Second Illinois, 457; Fourth Wisconsin, 685; Tenth Indiana, 629; Second New Jersey, 764; Twelfth Indiana, 597; Second Massachusetts Battery, 95; Fourteenth Ohio Battery, 131. Total, 3,812. The Second Illinois, sent by way of Tuscaloosa, not yet arrived. I wrote you and sent by rail yesterday. Please send me full instructions concerning dispositions to be made of negroes.

B. H. GRIERSON,

Brevet Major-General.