Abraham Lincoln, on the 4th of March, 1861, entered upon the duties as President of the United States at a time when, the matured and well-digested scheme of treason had reached the culminating point of rebellion and overt acts had already been committed. The Government knew not two who were its friends or its enemies; our army scattered upon the frontier and our navy broadcast in foreign countries. Out of the most doubtful and trying period in our national life he raised the most devoted and glorious army and navy that the world has ever produced. Victory and success have crowned our efforts under his administration. As a reward for his services and as a proof of the confidence placed in him by his countryman he was re-elected to the highest and most honorable position in the gift of nation; and now, having scarcely entered upon his second term of service, peas seemed within our grasp, and as he was about to close the gates of Janus he has met his death; he has been assassinated. Abraham Lincoln is dead, but, his acts will live forever. They have become imprinted upon the hearts of the until neither time nor calamities can efface, and future history will call him the most loved and revered man of our nation. He will be lamented and remembered not only for his official acts, but for his generous and courteous bearing- the offspring of a true and noble nature. As appropriate military honors, the national flag will be draped in mourning and will be displayed at half-staff from sunrise to sunset, and the usual badge of mourning will be worn for thirty days by all officers of this command. Captain Jacob Miller, Twelfth Massachusetts Battery, will cause the appropriate salute to be fired on the 21st instant.

By command of Brigadier General Cyrus Hamlin:

GEO. C. GETHCELL,*

Captain, Eighty-first U. S. Colored Infty., and Actg. Asst. Adjt. General

SPECIAL ORDERS,
HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF NATCHEZ, Numbers 101. Natchez, Miss., April 20, 1865.

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3. Colonel W. C. Earle, Seventieth U. S. Colored Infantry, with five companies of the Seventieth U. S. Colored Infantry, two companies Tenth Tennessee Cavalry, and one section of the Eight Ohio Light Battery, will proceed to Rodney, Miss., and there take post, with the view to break up the gangs of thieves and jayhawkers that infest its vicinity, and to prevent the crossing of the river by parties of the enemy. The command will be provided with sufficient intrenching tools to throw up in the least possible time a redoubt for 300 men, and ten days' subsistence. The quartermaster's department will furnish the requisite intrenching tools and water transportation.

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By order of Brigadier General J. W. Davidson:

B. F. MOREY,
Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSOURI,

Saint Louis, Mo., April 20, 1865.

Major General H. W. HALLECK, Chief of Staff, U. S. Army:

GENERAL: I have the honor to transit inclosed a dispatch just received from General Dodge. * In accordance with a suggestion from

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* See Dodge to Pope (received 1,40 p. m.), p. 141.

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