HSSIITI. 



51D 



What is not Uno-.vn of your plans and conspiracies 



will In- dis.-ovi-n-d and antieipati-il, ami tint tint out- 



.iiiirt an. I peace of society that as- 



lorm of insurrection will Hignuli/e the 



tion of your i-heri.sliud hopes and the ruin of 



Tha f 'er be deceived by tho restless 



H]>iriM whitr or I'la.-k that luru you to your ruin, I 

 ]nil>li>h for your inforinutioii the following indorao- 

 1 K. i >. C. Ordj mode on tho com- 

 munications above referred to, viz. : 



llr.ADyUAKTF.I!3 FOUBTII MlLITABT DlSTOICT, , 



OFFICE OP CIVIL AFFAIRS, 

 ll"ii.v SPRINGS, Miss., November^, 1867. | 



ly referred to Brevet Major-General Gil- 

 Inn, who will send an officer immediately to * * * 

 to Irani what white men have been advising tho freed- 

 Micii to take arms, seize lands, or any other illegal act. 

 The leading fnrilmen will be sent for and informed 

 that there is no intention on the part of Congress to 

 take land from masters of it for the benefit of former 

 slaves ; that Congress has plenty of lands now to 

 give fn-nliiieii iii Mississippi, and they can go there 

 iiinl settle if they chooso to do so. They win bo in- 

 1 that it is" the duty of the soldiers to put down 

 by arms (that is by killing if necessary) the outlaws 

 engaged m taking by force or violence the property 

 of others. 



General Gillem has directions to arrest promptly 

 all incendiaries, regardless of party or position; and 

 anv information from sheriffs, boards of police, 

 juuges, or other officers on this subject, accompanied 

 with the names of persons inciting freedmen to illegal 

 and seditious acts, the dates of such offences, with 

 tho names of witnesses, will be promptly acted upon. 



If (lovernor Humphreys deems this matter of suf- 

 ficient importance, will he publish a proclamation to 

 tho citizens, and all others concerned, that the mili- 

 tary will try to afford all quiet and law-abiding citi- 

 zens protection, where the civil authorities may be 

 defied or too weak to protect ; and that in all cases, 

 these officers of the law should be called on to pre- 

 vent outbreaks or violence before appealing to arms 

 themselves. The reverses of the past two years, 

 the want of confidence in the future of monev, 

 credits, or food to support a large and probably 

 unoccupied laboring population, threaten, in the com- 

 ing year, to produce discontent ; perhaps outbreaks 

 ami Violence, among the poor and distressed. 



All such danger should bo anticipated, and tho true 

 lover of tho country will use his stronger mind to 

 meet and provide for the emergency. 



If special cooperation of the military to aid in 

 arrest, or to insure the execution of courts and boards 

 gathering together and employing, in agricultural 

 or other useful employment, the idle and vicious 

 should be needed, it will be cheerfully accorded. 



If the distress and danger to the public safety 

 threaten to bo very great, extraordinary powers and 

 ni'-ans may have to bo assumed to meet them * * * 

 and all partisanship ignored, if we wont a community 

 of action for the benefit of the community. 

 E. 0. C. ORD, 



Brigadier and Brevet Major-General Commanding. 



You will now know that the United States military 

 authorities of this district are not in sympathy with 

 any emissaries white or black that urge you to vio- 

 lence and wrong-doing. That while you remain in 

 peaceful pursuit of industry, and strictly observe and 

 respect the rights of others^you will be protected in 

 all your rights, privileges, liberty, and prosperity ; 

 but your only security and hope of prosperity is in 

 honest labor and virtuous peace. 



The price of your liberty in your poverty and in- 

 digence is toil, or starvation. You cannot reap the 

 rewards of toil, unless you maintain peaceful rela- 

 tions with the white race, and unite your energies and 

 your labors in an earnest and peaceful effort to restore 

 the waste places and exhausted garners of our im- 

 poverished land. 



I further warn the white race, that, as you prize 

 itional lilierty fr yourselves, so you must ac- 

 cord to tin: Mark race tin- full measure or their righto, 

 privileges, Mini liberties secured to them }>y the Con- 

 stitution and laws of the land. You cannot live with 

 them in peace and prosperity as wrong-doer*, 

 must deaf justly in all your transactions and contract* 

 with tin in, sad in no case undertake to i 

 wrong.-*, except iti the mode and manner authorized 

 by law. 



I advise all white and black to make timely, ac- 

 curate, and truthful report, of all unlawful combina- 

 tions or conspiracies against the peace and tranquil- 

 lity of society, to the civil and military authorities, 

 with names of persons and places. 



All civil officers must faithfully administer the lawe 

 without bios or partiality toward either race: and 

 should resistance bo mode to legal process too formi- 

 dable to be suppressed by the ordinary course of law , 

 Erompt assi.staneo will be afforded "by the United 

 tales military authorities. 



The civil officers of tho State must do their duty to 

 tho people, and sustain the people both white and 

 black must trust the civil officers and the United 

 States military authorities in tho maintenance of 

 peace and order. 



[SEAL.] B. G. HUMPHREYS, Governor. 



C. A. BBOUGHER, Secretary of State. 



Accompanying this proclamation of Governor 

 Humphreys was an order from headquarters, 

 requesting sheriffs, deputy-sheriffs, and other 

 peace officers, to be prepared with the aid of the 

 posse comitatu to arrest, disarm, and confine of- 

 fenders against the peace and good order of the 

 community, until such offenders can be tried be- 

 fore the civil authority ; and that, as far as prac- 

 ticable, when freed persons were to be arrested, 

 that the posse comitatus should be composed of 

 persons of the same race or color. Agents of tho 

 Bureau of Kefugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned 

 Lands, and commanders of troops, were direct- 

 ed to aid and cooperate with the civil authori- 

 ties in preserving order and enforcing the laws 

 for the suppression of vagrancy and crime. 

 Where they were too weak to perform tlicir 

 duties, the civil authorities were requested to 

 call on Brevet Major-General A. 0. Gillem, 

 Vicksburg, commanding Sub-district of Missis- 

 sippi, for such military force as he could spare 

 to aid them. General Gillem also issued an 

 order directing commanding officers in his dis- 

 trict to notify the leading colored men, and 

 take such other measures as might be neces-. in- 

 to give general publication of the fact, that all 

 freedmen who are able will be required to earn 

 their support during the coming year, and to 

 go to work upon the best terms that can be 

 procured, even should it furnish a support only. 

 All freedmen who can, but will not, earn a 

 livelihood when employment can be procured, 

 will lay themselves liable to arrest and punish- 

 ment as vagrants. The cooperation of sheriffs, 

 constables, and police magistrates is requested in 

 the enforcement of this order, and any just ac- 

 tion of theirs under its provisions is to bo sus- 

 tained by tho military authorities. ^ 



At the election, which took place on Novem- 

 ber 5th, tho number of votes cast was 76,016, 

 of which 69,739 were given in favor of a con- 

 vention, and 6,277 against a convention. The 



