466 



KENTUCKY. 



KING, DAN. 



HEAIXJCARTEKS DEPAETMKNT or KENTUCKY, I 



LOUISVILLE, KY., December 7, 1865. f 



The General commanding announces that, though 

 the fact has not been officially announced, enough is 

 known to warrant the statement that the amendment 

 to the Constitution of the United States prohibiting 

 slavery has been ratified by the Legislatures of three- 

 fourths of the States, and is, to all intents and pur- 

 poses, a part of said Constitution. 



Whatever doubts may have heretofore existed on 

 the subject, slavery has now ceased to exist in Ken- 

 tucky ; and with it fall all the laws of the State here- 

 tofore in force intended for its support. 



General Orders Number thirty-two (32) and Forty- 

 nine (49), and all other orders from these head- 

 quarters relating to the issuing of passes to colored 

 people, having oecome unnecessary, are therefore 

 rescinded. From henceforth colored people will be 

 under the protection of the general laws of the land, 

 and if the owners or operators of boats or railroads 

 shall disregard their undoubted right to travel at 

 pleasure, upon conforming to reasonable regulations, 

 they are advised to apply promptly to the courts for 

 redress. By command of 



Maj.-Gen. J. M. PALMER. 



E. B. HARLAN, Captain and A. A. G. 



WM. W. LKVBEETT, A. D. C. 



Martial law had been in force in the State by 

 the proclamation of President Lincoln, of July 

 5th, 1864. On October 12th, 1865, President 

 Johnson revoked that proclamation and re- 

 stored the civil authority by the following proc- 

 lamation : 



Whereas, by a proclamation of the 5th day of July, 

 1864, the President of the United States, when the 

 civil war was flagrant, and when combinations were 

 in progress in Kentucky for the purpose of inciting 

 insurgent raids into that State, directed the procla- 

 mation suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas 

 corpus should be made effectual in Kentucky, and 

 that martial law should be established there and con- 

 tinued until said proclamation should be revoked or 

 modified : 



And whereas, since then the danger from insurgent 

 raids into Kentucky has substantially passed awav : 



Now, therefore, be it known that I, Andrew Jonn- 

 son, President of the United States, by virtue of the 

 authority vested in me by the Constitution, do here- 

 by declare that the said proclamation of the 5th day 

 of July, 1864, shall be, and is hereby modified, in so 

 far that martial law shall be no longer in force in 

 Kentucky from and after the date hereof. 



In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my 

 hand and caused the seal of the United States to be 

 affixed. 



Done at the city_ of Washington, this twelfth day of 

 October, in the year of our Lord 1865, and of 

 [L. s.] the Independence of the United States of 

 America the ninetieth. 



15 v the President. ANDREW JOHNSON. 



WM. HUNTER, Acting Secretary of War. 



The removal of martial law led to the follow- 

 ing correspondence : 



LOUISVILLE, KT., October 15, 1865. 

 Hon. E. M. Stanton, Se<?y of War, Washington, D. C. : 



Since the abrogation o'f martial law, no colored 

 persons are allowed to cross on the ferry-boats on 

 the Ohio River unless known to the ferry-man to be 

 free. Not more than one in a hundred can cross. 

 What shall I do? 



JOHN M. PALMER, Major-General. 



Official E. B. HARLAN, Capt. and A. A. G. 



LOUISVILLE, KY., October 16, 18C5. 

 Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War : 



On yesterday ferry-boats across the Ohio refused 

 to carry colored persons on passes issued under De- 

 partment Orders No. 32. 



I have ordered the post commandant here to conv 

 pel them to do so. The alarm amongst the negroea 

 upon the report of the withdrawal of martial law, of 

 which I have no official information, renders this 

 course necessary. Am I right? Immediate. 



(Signed) JOHN M. PALMER, 



Major-General Commanding. 



Official E. B. HARLAN, Capt. and A. A. G. 



WASHINGTON, October 20, 1865. 

 Major-General Palmer; 



Your despatches in respect to ferry passes have 

 been very maturely considered, and it is not per- 

 ceived that the Department can properly interfere. 



(Signed) E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War. 



WASHINGTON, October 20, 1865. 

 Major- General Palmer : 



Major-General Thomas having reported in favor of 

 your retaining the command in Kentucky, and ap- 

 proving your administration of the department, the 

 President has approved his report and overruled the 

 application made for your removal. 



By order of the President. 



(Signed) E. D. TOWNSEND, A. A. General. 



On November 4th, a session of the newly 

 elected Legislature convened. The Governor 

 urged the adoption of the Constitutional amend- 

 ment, but it was again rejected. The act of 

 expatriation was repealed, and all persons af- 

 fected by it were restored to their original 

 rights. The condition of the freedmen and 

 their rights became a subject of consideration 

 at a later period of the session in 1866. The 

 authority of the Freedman's Bureau in Nashville, 

 was immediately extended over this class of 

 persons. 



The charitable institutions of the State, such 

 as the Eastern and Western Lunatic Asylums, 

 the Feeble-minded Institute, the Deaf and 

 Dumb, and Blind Asylums, continued in oper- 

 ation through the war, but with their means 

 crippled and benefits impaired. The Eastern 

 Lunatic Asylum, whose report is before us, 

 treated during 1865 three hundred persons, 

 being an increase of twenty -four over the pre- 

 vious year. In their experience, the most effect- 

 ual means of limiting the number of the insane, 

 is to provide ample room for their treatment, 

 which should be commenced without delay. 

 Almost all recover who arc submitted to treat- 

 ment within the first six months. In the ex- 

 perience of the Feeble-minded Asylum, it is 

 found that all of this class are capable, with 

 judicious treatment, of some improvement, 

 however slow it may be, while many can. be 

 taught useful trades, and thus enabled at length 

 to support themselves. 



KING, DAN., M. D., an eminent physician 

 and author of Ehode Island, born in Mansfield, 

 Conn., January 27, 1791, died at Smithfield, 

 K. I., November 13, 1864. Making a choice of 

 the medical profession, he prepared himself for 

 it by the requisite studies under Drs. Adams 

 and Swiftj of Mansfield, and by attendance 

 upon medical lectures at New Ilaven, and at 

 the age of twenty-four entered upon its prac- 

 tice in the town of Preston, in his native State. 

 After spending five years here and in Groton, 

 he removed to Charlestown, R. I., where he 

 continued for eighteen years devoted to his 





