Daily union appeal. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1862-186?, 1862-08-20
InapoFtant Order from Gen. acclensn.

Inaportant Order from Gen. mcCIensn
General oraers 10. i5a.l
Headquarters Army Of the Pcsomac.
Camp usar HATTisoA's Landing, Va,
august 3. 1851
The Major-General commanding directs
the attention of the officers and soldiers of the
army of the Potomac to the following execu-
tive order by the President, which has bes1
officially published:
executive Order.
l. Ordered, that military commanders with
IN the States of Virginia, South Carolina,
Georgis, Florida, Alab8ma, Mississippi, Louis
lana, Texas and Arkansas, in an orderly man
ner, selze and use any property, real or per
sonal, which may be necessary or convenient
for their several commands for supplies, or for
other military urposes; and that, while
property may be Destroyed for proper military
objects, none shall be destroyed in wanton-
ness or malice.
2. That military and naval commanders
shall employ rs laborers, within and from said
States, SO many persons of African descent as
can be advantageously used for military or
naval purposes, giving them reasonable wages
for their labor.
5. Ihas, as 20 both property and persons of
African descent, accounts shall be kept sufH-
ciently accurate and in detail to show quanti-
ties and amounts, and from whom both prop
erty and such persons shall have come, as a
basis upon which compensation can be made
in proper cases; and the several departments
of this Government shall attend to and per-
form their appropriate parts towards she exc.
cution of these orders.
By order of the President.
EDWIN III. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
No official copy of these orders has been re-
ceived at these headquarters, and the General
commanding has, for this reason, delayed the
issuing of general order TO carry into effect
the views and directions of the President.
Some recent occurrences in this army have
however, show that it has become necessary to
do So to prevent this executive order being
made a pretext for military license.
The order Of the President accords SO sub
stantially with the course so uniformly pur-
| sued by this army on this peninsula, under
the orders and Instructions of the General
commanding that no material change Ia any
respect Is required thereby in its conduct and
government.
| Personal property necessary or convenient
for supplies or other military purposes of this
! army will Do as heretofore, seized and used by
| the proper QuartermasteEs or subsistence 9TH
| GERS, upon the orders of commanders of army
corps; or, in case of troops employed on de-
tached service, where army corps commanders
are not accessible, by order OF the officer in
/ command of such detached service.
| In all cases the officers thus making the
/! seizures shall take an account showing the
! kind and Qualities of property seized and by
/ whose command the amounts of its estimated
value, aud the names Of the persons from
whom the same shall have come Whenever
! circumstances admit of 50 doing, receipts will
be given 10 the owners or their agents. speci-
/ flying simply the particulars above mentioned.
! Copies Of all such accounts and receipts will
| be transmitted IN the usual manner, by the
officers making them, TO these headquarters.
All officers and soldiers of this army are
enjoined and ordered to abstain from all seiz-
ures OF private property, except in the mode
ABOVE prescribed ali other appropriations viii
be regarded and punished as pillage The idea
that private property may be plundered with
| lmpunlty Is, perhaps, the very worst that can
pervade an army. Marauding degrades as
men and demoralizes as soldiers all VINO engage
! in it, and returns them to their homes untitled
for the pursuits Of honest industry. This army
is composed mostly of young men; and the
General commanding, to whose care they are
intrusted, owes il to the parents who have sent
their sons and to the communities that have
sent the flower Of their youth into the military
service of their country, to warn and restrain
them from an evil so pernicion2.
The order of the President requires the an.
plioation of similar rule in the use of real
property. This, however, does not apply tc
such uses as are inseparable from military
operations, to-wit: marches, camps pasturage
hospitals, depots, quarters and damages occa
stoned by active hostilities; but no use should
be made or injury done TO real property be.
yond what is actually necessary or conver;e-'
for military purposes
The destruction of any species of property
n wantonness or malice is expressly p4ohlo-
tied BY the Presidents order as well as by
the articles of war and the usages of civilized
nations All commanding officers are earn
estly enjoined to exercise the utmost vigilance
on this subject. Struggling and trespassine
are the invariable indications of tendency K
this description of crime
Inhabitants, especially women and children
remaining peaceably at their homes, must no
be molested; and wherever commanding Off
a