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Doc. 28.-Emancipation of slaves.

General Hunter's proclamation, May 9.

headquarters Department of the South, Hilton head, S. C., May 9, 1862.
General orders, No. 11.

The three States of Georgia, Florida and South-Carolina, comprising the military department of the South, having deliberately declared themselves no longer under the protection of the United States of America, and having taken up arms against the said United States, it becomes a military necessity to declare them under martial law. This was accordingly done on the twenty-fifth day of April, 1862. Slavery and martial law, in a free country, are altogether incompatible. The persons in these three States--Georgia, Florida and South-Carolina--heretofore held as slaves, are therefore declared forever free.

David Hunter, Major-General Commanding. Ed. W. Smith, Acting Adjutant-General.

Van Nostrand. New York, New York. 1862.

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