Beschreibung:

Lot includes two General Orders signed in type by L. Thomas, Adjutant General, and one duplicate signed in type by E. D. Townsend, Assistant Adjutant General. General Orders, No. 32, issued by the War Department, Adjutant General's Office, Washington, April 2, 1862. Orders lay out regulations for dealing with prisoners of war, including the following: "1. A General commanding in the field, or a Department, will make arrangements for the safe-keeping and reasonable comfort of his prisoners;" "3. The General will give no order exchanging prisoners, or releasing them, except under instructions from the Secretary of War;" and "8. The Commissary General of Prisoners is empowered to visit places at which prisoners may be held, and will recommend to the General, whose guards are responsible for them, whatever modification in their treatment may seem to him proper or necessary, and report the same to the War Department." Signed in type by L. Thomas as Adjutant General. General Orders, No. 90, issued by the War Department, Adjutant General's Office, Washington, July 26, 1862. Orders call for the discharge of any Chaplains being held by the United States as prisoners of war, and announce the President's dismissal of Second Lieutenant William J. McCormick for deserting his regiment "in the presence of the enemy." Signed in type by L. Thomas as Adjutant General. Duplicate of General Orders, No. 149, issued by the War Department, Adjutant General's Office, Washington, April 5, 1864. Orders pertain to the arraignment and trial of James Williams who, the orders read, "did take up arms as an insurgent and guerrilla against the laws and authorities of the United States, and did join and co-operate with an armed band of insurgents and guerrillas, who were engaged in plundering the property of peaceable citizens...contrary to and in violation of the laws and customs of war." Williams was found guilty of the specification and charge leveled against him and sentenced to death by hanging, though the President commuted that sentence to confinement and hard labor for five years. Original signed in type by E. D. Townsend as Assistant Adjutant General. Condition: First two orders with ripping/tearing at left edges, minor areas of loss to other edges/corners of "No. 90." Both with light discoloration at edges. Duplicate in good condition with vertical crease extending length of page, though not affecting text; and with "Duplicate" written in pencil at top.