Today in History:

534 Series I Volume XLI-II Serial 84 - Price's Missouri Expedition Part II

Page 534 LOUISIANA AND THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. Chapter LIII.

and effect to certain articles in said regulations, are hereby revoked, and all trade and intercourse for commercial or private purposes is forbidden, except that refugees from insurrectionary districts, who furnish satisfactory evidence of good faith, will be allowed to bring with them their own property, without being exposed to the penalties and forfeitures prescribed by the laws regulating trade and intercourse.

II. Beyond the national and within the rebel lines of occupation there can be no intercourse not exclusively military in its character, and the national lines are determined by the circumstances of actual military occupation-that is, the picket-lines of the army, of the cover given by the guns of the navy; and no passes or permits to go beyond or come within those lines (except for public purposes) will be given, except in the cases provided for in paragraph 7, General Orders, Numbers 31, and none will be respected that do not emanate directly from the commander of this division, the commanders of the departments, and, east of the Mississippi, from the commanders of the District of West Tennessee and Vicksburg, or from superior authority.

III. The designation of trade and supply districts are conditional, and will be modified and determined by the circumstances of actual occupation. Any change in the lines, requiring a change of district,s will be reported by the proper military commander to the supervising special agent of the Treasury, but no extension of districts will be authorized until the occupation of the country has been secured, and then only after the approval of the department commander. (Articles 9 and 10, Trade Regulations.)

IV. Trade stores will, as far as possible, be restricted to permanent military posts, but commanders of departments are authorized to make such exception as may be required by considerations of policy and humanity, limiting these exceptions to points that are so far within our lines as not to be exposed to the danger of rebel incursions. All other trade stores will at once be discontinued, and the owners required to remove their property to points that may be designated by the commander of the district. In all cases the number of stores and the amount of sales will be limited to the necessities of the inhabitants living within the lines of actual occupation.

V. Hereafter no trade stores will be enlisted, except upon the request of the commander of a department, or, east of the Mississippi, of the commanding generals of the District of West Tennessee and Vicksburg, based upon considerations of public policy and expediency. (Article 18, Trade Regulations.)

VI. No trading boats will be allowed on the Mississippi below Cairo, or any of its tributaries or outlets, or other inland waters within the limits of this command. Boats that have heretofore been licensed will be allowed to return to the place of clearance, but without landing or trading, and, for any violation of this order, will be held to be in the service of the enemy, and coming under the proviso of the first section of the act of Congress, approved March 12, 1863.

VII. Passes for individuals or permits for supplies to pass the national lines (except for the public service) are in violation of law, and whenever through such agencies information is communicated or supplies conveyed to the enemy the officers or agents who grant or approve such passes or permits bring themselves within the provisions of the 56th and 57th Articles of War.

VIII. No supplies, except for the use of the army or navy, will e allowed to go into any district, the occupation of which is only temporary,


Page 534 LOUISIANA AND THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. Chapter LIII.