272 



FLOKIDA. 



General Orders, No. 92. 

 HEADQUARTERS, THIRD MILITARY DISTRICT 

 DEPARTMENT OF GEORGIA, FLORIDA, AND ALABAMA, 



ATLANTA, GA., June 29, 1868. 

 Whereas, Official information has been received at 

 these headquarters from the Governor-elect of the 

 State of Florida, that the Legislature of said State, 

 elected under the provisions of General Order JNo. 

 43, current series, from these headquarters, have as- 

 sembled, and complied with the requisitions ol tne 

 Act of Congress which became a law June 25, 1868, 

 entitled " An act to admit the States of North Caroli- 

 na, South Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and 

 Florida, to representation in Congress ; " and whereas 

 said act states that, on compliance with the conditions 

 therein set forth by any State, the officers of said 

 State, duly elected and qualified under the constitu- 

 tion thereof, shall be inaugurated without delay : It 

 is therefore ordered, 



1. That all civil officers, holding office m the State, 

 whether by military appointment or by failure to 

 have successors qualified, shall promptly yield their 

 offices, and turn over to their properly elected and 

 qualified successors all public property, archives, 

 books, records, etc., belonging to the same. 



2. "Whenever the military commander of the sub- 

 District of Florida is officially notified of the inaugu- 

 ration of the State government-elect, military au- 

 thority under the Acts of Congress, known as the 

 reconstruction laws, will be at an end in said State ; 

 and it is made the duty of the sub-district com- 

 mander to transfer every thing appertaining to the 

 government of said State to the proper civil officers, 

 and to abstain in future upon any pretext whatever 

 from any interference with or control over the civil 

 authorities of the State in the persons and property 

 of the citizens thereof. 



By order of Major-General MEADE. 

 E. C. DRUM, Assistant Adjutant-General. 



On July 1st, the civil governor, who held 

 his office by virtue of the State constitution 

 obtaining since 1865, notified the Governor 

 elected under the auspices of the new consti- 

 tution, as follows: 



EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, TALLAHASSEE, FLA., ) 

 July 2, 1868. \ 



His Excellency Harrison Reed, Governor of Florida : 

 SIR : I have this moment received an order from 

 General Meade to surrender the government of the 

 State to you, and I am ready to make the surrender 

 accordingly. 

 Please call at the Executive office. 



Yours, most respectfully, 



D. S. WALKEE. 



The change of persons occupying the chair 

 of the State government took place on the 

 same day. 



On July 2d, the new Governor addressed to 

 the military commander of the sub-District of 

 Florida the following communication : 



EXECUTIVE OFFICE, TALLAHASSEE, FLA., ) 

 July 2, 1868. J 



COLONEL : I have the honor to inform you that the 

 State government provided under the new constitu- 

 tion for the State of Florida, in accordance with the 

 reconstruction laws of Congress, has been duly in- 

 augurated, and all the conditions precedent to the 

 admission of the State into the Federal Union have 

 been complied with, and our Eepresentatives'admitted 

 to Congress. 



With high respect, I am, colonel, 

 Your obedient servant. 



HAEEISON EEED, Governor. 

 To Colonel JOHN T. SPRAGUE, 



Commanding District of Florida, Jacksonville. 

 The 4th of July, 1868, was celebrated in 



Florida in an unusual manner. On that day, 

 and in the same hour, by one continued act, 

 her State government was both formally sur- 

 rendered by the military to the civil power, 

 and inaugurated in the person of the Governor 

 newly elected by the people. The ceremony 

 took place within the hall of the House of 

 Representatives, in the presence of the mem- 

 bers of both branches of the Legislature, who 

 had assembled there in joint session for the 

 occasion, and of as many people as the room 

 could hold. 



On July 27th the War Department at Wash- 

 ington issued the following order : 



The commanding generals in the Second, Third, 

 Fourth and Fifth Military Districts, having officially 

 reported that Arkansas, North Carolina, South Caro- 

 lina, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida have 

 complied with the reconstruction acts, including the 

 act of June 25, 1868, and that consequently so much 

 of the act of March 2, 1867, and all acts supplement- 

 ary thereto, providing for military districts, subject 

 to the military authority of the United States, as 

 therein provided, have become incorporated in said 

 States, and commanding generals have ceased exer- 

 cising military powers conferred by said acts ; there- 

 fore, the following changes will be made in the or- 

 ganization and command of military districts and 

 geographical departments : 



First. The Second and Third Military Districts 

 having ceased to exist, North Carolina, South Caro- 

 lina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida will constitute 

 the Department of the South, General Meade to 

 command, with headquarters at Atlanta^ Georgia. 



In execution of this arrangement, and by 

 direction of General Meade, Colonel Sprague, 

 the sub-commander in Florida, issued an order 

 dated August 4th, declaring her condition in 

 military matters to be now changed from sub- 

 district into district, and this to be officially 

 called after her own name. By a further order 

 of the 5th, the colonel made a new distribution 

 of the United States force under his command, 

 by establishing three military posts at different 

 points within the State, concentrating and 

 stationing in each of them a sufficient number 

 of men and officers to do duty. 



The first session of the Legislature of Florida 

 under the new constitution lasted for about two 

 months, and on August 6th both Houses ad- 

 journed to the 3d of November. During that 

 period they had transacted a vast amount of 

 business on almost every matter of public in- 

 terest. 



As the opening of the next regular session, 

 fixed by the constitution for the first Tuesday 

 of January, 1869, was drawing near, while sev- 

 eral Senators and Kepresentatives had in the 

 mean time resigned, or been appointed to offices 

 whose functions were by the constitution de- 

 clared incompatible with those of members of 

 the Legislature, Governor Eeed and George J. 

 Alden, Secretary of State, issued, on October 

 28th, a joint proclamation, declaring the seats 

 before occupied by said Senators and Assembly- 

 men vacant, and Ordering that, in the districts 

 and counties represented by them, an election 

 should be held on December 29, 1868, for filling 

 up their respective vacancies in either House. 



