[Second indorsement.]

Approved.

E. M. STANTON.

[Third indorsement.]

The projet was put in type and handed to the Secretary of War and was by him suspended.

E. D. T.

[Inclosure.]

GENERAL ORDERS,

No.--.
Washington, July --, 1865.

I. All paroled prisoners of war voluntarily taking the oath of allegiance to the United States Government are hereby permitted to leave their homes and seek civil employment elsewhere, but their taking the oath of allegiance will not restore them to citizenship.

II. All restraints put upon prisoners of war, whether paroled or not, and all other parties who have been sent North by any competent military authority, under oredrs to remain North during the existence of the rebellion, are hereby removed; and upon taking the oath of allegiance they will be permitted to return to their homes in the South, and will also be entitled to the privileges granted in the first paragraph of this order.

WASHINGTON, D. C., June 29, 1865.

Honorable EDWON M. STANTON, Secretary of War:

SIR: I have the honor to inclose a dispatch from Mrs. Jefferson Davis, dated at Savannah, received yesterday through the U. S. military telegraph.* Believing that it would be improper for me to enter into correspondence with Mrs. Davis, I respectfully communicate it to the War Department, with a copy of a letter which I have addressed to the commanding general at Savannah, in which, after assigning the reasons which forbid my entering into correspondence with Mrs. Davis, I have requested him to cause her tobe informed that her husband's health is reported to be better than when she parted with him.

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

M. C. MEIGS,

Quartermaster-General and Brevet Major-General.

[Inclosure.]

WASHINGTON, D. C., June 29, 1865.

COMMANDING GENERAL SAVANNAH, GA.:

GENERAL: I received yesterday by the U. S. military telegraph a dispatch from Mrs. Jefferson Davis, dated at Savannah, Ga., the 17th of June, requesting me to present her wishes to the authorities ansd to advise her as to her husband's health.

I was under obligation to Mr. and also to Mrs. Davis for kindness and courtesy received before they inaugurated rebellion and civil war, and therefore probably she appeals to me.

I was under obligatin to Mr. and also to Mrs. Davis for kindness and courtesy received before they inaugurated rebellion and civil war, and therefore probably she appeals to me.

The effect of that war, my personal loss in the death of my eldest son, murdered by one of Mr. Davis' assasins, called guerrillas, my position as an officer of the government, make it altogether improper for me to

---------------

*See p. 666.

---------------