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(CIVIL WAR.) Sentencing order for an officer who resigned in protest over the Emancipation Proclamation. 2 pages, 7 1/4 x 5 inches, plus integral blank, signed in type by Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas by order of the Secretary of War [Edwin Stanton]; unrelated manuscript notes on blank leaf, a bit of ink spotting. Washington, 4 February 1863
The War Department's General Order No. 29, reporting on the court martial of Maine lieutenant Joseph Nichols for resigning in protest over the Emancipation Proclamation. On 12 January 1863, Nichols "did tender his resignation while near the enemy, under an allegation or pretext in the inexpediency and unconstitutionality of a Proclamation of the President . . . meddling with the war policy of the Government, with which he has nothing to do." He was sentenced "to be dismissed . . . receiving his pay and allowances." This was overruled by generals Couch and Sumner as too lenient, and was changed to a dishonorable discharge with loss of all pay. The present order conveys Lincoln's approval of the new sentence. The case is discussed in Desmond's Turning the Tide at Gettysburg: How Maine Saved the Union, pages 84-85.
