In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed, this fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America to eighty-eighth.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN,

By the President:

WM. H. SEWARD,

Secretary of State.

The attention of every officer in the military service of the United States is called to the above proclamation of the President issued on the 15th day of September, 1863, by which the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is suspended. If therefore, a writ of habeas corpus should, in violation of the aforesaid proclamation, be sued out and served upon any officer in the military service of the United States, commanding him to produce before any court or judge any person in his custody by authority of the President of the United States, belonging to any one of the classes specified in the President's proclamation, it shall be the duty of such officer to make known by his certificate, under oath, to whomsoever may issued or serve such writ of habeas corpus, that the person named in said writ "is detained by him as a prisoner under authority of the President of the United States."

Such return having been made, if any persons serving or attempting to serve such writ, either by the command of any court or judge, or otherwise, and with or without process of law, shall attempt to arrest the officer making such return and holding in custody such person, the said officer is hereby commanded to refuse submission and obedience to such arrest, and if there should be any attempt to take such person from the custody of such officer, or arrest such officer, he shall resist such attempt, calling to his aid any force that may be necessary to maintain the authority of the United States and render such resistance effectual.

By order of the Secretary of War:

E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

CIRCULAR
WAR DEPT., PROV. March GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Numbers 85.
Washington, D. C., September 17, 1863.

The Secretary of War orders that the following act of Congress and proclamation of the President, based upon the same, be published for the information of all concerned, and that the special instructions hereinafter contained for persons in the military service of the United States be strictly observed.*

JAMES B. FRY,

Provost-Marshal-General.

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Washington, September 17, 1863.

GOVERNOR OF INDIANA,

Indianapolis, Ind.:

SIR: In compliance with your request of the 14th instant you are hereby authorized by the Secretary of War to supply a suitable militia force for sixty days" service, for the purpose of guarding the prison camp.

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

*See act, proclamation, and instruction published in General Orders, Numbers 315, Adjutant-General's Office, next, ante.

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