Doc. 141.-eastern Tennessee. Jefferson Davis's proclamation.
war Department, Adjutant and Inspector General's office, Richmond, Va., April 8, 1862.
I. The following proclamation is published for the information of all concerned: II. Major-Gen. E. K. Smith, commanding the Department of East-Tennessee, is charged with the due execution of the foregoing proclamation. He will forthwith establish an efficient military police, and will enforce the following orders: The distillation of spirituous liquors is positively prohibited, and the distilleries will forthwith be closed. The sale of spirituous liquors of any kind is also prohibited, and establishments for the sale thereof will be closed. III. All persons infringing the above prohibition will suffer such punishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a court-martial: Provided, that no sentence to hard labor for more than one month shall be inflicted by the sentence of a regimental court-martial, as directed by the Sixty-seventh Article of War. By command of the Secretary of War.Proclamation.
I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, do proclaim that martial law is hereby extended over the Department of East-Tennessee, under the command of Major-General E. K. Smith; and I do proclaim the suspension of all civil jurisdiction, (with the exception of that enabling the courts to take cognizance of the probate of wills, the administration of the estates of deceased persons, the qualification of guardians, to enter decrees and orders for the partition and sale of property, to make orders concerning roads and bridges, to assess county levies, and to order the payment of county dues,) and the writ of habeas corpus aforesaid. In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name and set my seal, this, the eighth day of April, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
By virtue of the power vested in me, by law, to declare the suspension of the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus:
S. Cooper, Adjutant and Inspector-General.
[503]
General orders, No. 23.
I. Col. W. M. Churchwell is appointed Provost-Marshal, and charged, under the direction of the Major-General Commanding, with the due execution of the foregoing proclamation in this department.
By command of Major-Gen. E. Kirby Smith.
H. L. Clay, A. A.G.
Martial law having been declared in this Department, the people of East-Tennessee are notified that, whilst the criminal courts of the land continue in the exercise of their functions, they (the people) are amenable for offences committed under the “Articles of war,” and they can be tried, under the orders of the Department Commander, by military courts.
The following extracts from the Rules and Articles of War are published for their information and guidance:
Art. 5. Any officer or private who shall use contemptuous or disrespectful words against the President of the confederate States, against the Vice-President thereof, against the Congress of the confederate States, or against the Chief Magistrate or Legislature of any of the confederate States in which he may be quartered, if a commissioned officer, shall be cashiered, or otherwise punished, as a court-martial may decide; if a non-commissioned officer or soldier, he shall suffer such punishment as shall be inflicted by the sentence of a court-martial. Art. 28. Any officer or soldier who shall be convicted of having advised or persuaded any other officer or soldier to desert the service of the confederate States shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall be inflicted upon him by the sentence of a court-martial. Art. 55. Whosoever belonging to the armies of the confederate States in foreign parts shall force a safeguard shall suffer death. Art. 56. Whosoever shall relieve the enemy with money, victuals, or ammunition, or shall knowingly harbor or protect an enemy, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a court-martial. Art. 57. Whosoever shall be convicted of holding correspondence with or giving intelligence to the enemy, either directly or indirectly, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a court-martial.
