Description:

The Emancipation Proclamation, 1st Ed. War Dept. Printing, Bound with 200+ Gen. Orders Jan-Aug. 1863

The Emancipation Proclamation, General Orders No. 1, First Edition of First War Department Printing, Bound in a volume with First Editions of Gen. Orders 2-255, dated January 2 to August 1, 1863. The volume measures 5.5" x 8", bound with ribbon. Marbled boards, black label with gilt lettering. Signed on the front "C.E.G. Horn Capt./9th Wis Vol. Inf/Lt. Ira S. [illegible]."

General Order No. 1, War Department, Adjutant General’s Office, Washington January 2, 1863, 3pp. Signed in type by Lincoln, Secretary of State William H. Seward, and Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas. The order is dated in print January 2, but, consistent with the time it normally took for military orders to be published, it likely was received closer to January 7. Earlier separate printings are very seldom available. Intended for all military commanders in the field, the order declares "All persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are and henceforward shall be free…" The first page is signed at the top by Horn. Reading in part:

“I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States... hereby proclaim and declare that... the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States... That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Congress, to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure tending pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or rejection of all Slave States, so called, the people whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United States, and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within their respective limits; and that the effort to colonize persons of African descent, with their consent, upon this continent or elsewhere … will be continued … That on the first day of January, in the year… one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free…”

The Proclamation is bound together with separately printed and paginated orders 2-255, dating from January to August 1863, with the exception of missing orders No. 231-238, 244, 246, 247, 249, 251, 252, 253, and 254. The first edition 1863 orders are mostly for court-martials, organization of commands, etc., but two additional documents deserve highlighting:

General Order No. 100, April 24, 1863, “Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field.” Known as Lieber’s Code, this describes and defines legitimate ends of war and permissible and impermissible means to attain those ends, for instance calling for civilian populations to be treated well so long as they did not resist military authority. It spells out conduct relating to martial law, military jurisdiction, treatment of non-combatants, spies, deserters and prisoners of war, etc.

During the Napoleonic Wars, Franz Lieber fought for his native Prussia and was wounded at the Battle of Waterloo. After emigrating to America, he lived and taught in South Carolina for two decades. Two of Lieber’s sons fought for the Union, and another died fighting for the Confederacy. Lieber became known for his scholarship and thinking on rules of warfare necessary to inform and protect soldiers, civilians and commanders. Henry Halleck, who became general-in-chief in July 1862, solicited Lieber’s views and then ordered 5000 copies of his report printed. Halleck and Stanton were especially concerned with the treatment of escaped slaves who were forbidden by Federal law from returning or being returned to their former masters, and the introduction of “colored soldiers” into the army after the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. They asked Lieber to revise the 1806 Articles of War. Lieber complied, and Lincoln promulgated the rules in April 1863. Reading in part:

“15. Military necessity admits of all direct destruction of life or limb of armed enemies, and of other persons whose destruction is incidentally unavoidable in the armed contests of the war… it allows of all destruction of property, and obstruction of the ways and channels of traffic, travel, or communication, and of all withholding of sustenance or means of life from the enemy; of the appropriation of whatever an enemy’s country affords necessary for the subsistence and safety of the Army, and of such deception as does not involve the breaking of good faith either positively pledged, regarding agreements entered into during the war, or supposed by the modern law of war to exist. (...But...) Men who take up arms against one another in public war do not cease on this account to be moral beings, responsible to one another and to God.

16. Military necessity does not admit of cruelty—that is, the infliction of suffering for the sake of suffering or for revenge, nor of maiming or wounding except in fight, nor of torture to extort confessions. It does not admit of the use of poison in any way, nor of the wanton devastation of a district. It admits of deception, but disclaims acts of perfidy; and, in general, military necessity does not include any act of hostility which makes the return to peace unnecessarily difficult.”

Lieber's Code provided a blueprint for hundreds of war crimes trials and helped explain the Union’s unpopular decision to cease prisoner exchanges so long as the South refused to exchange black prisoners on equal terms with white ones. It later became the basis for international law promulgated by the Hauge and Geneva Conventions.

General Order No. 143, May 22, 1863, established the United States Colored Troops. Reading in part:

"I. A Bureau is established in the Adjutant General's Office for the record of all matters relating to the organization of Colored Troops…

IV. No persons shall be allowed to recruit for colored troops except specially authorized by the War Department; and no such authority will be given to persons who have not been examined and passed by a board; nor will such authority be given any one person to raise more than one regiment…

VI. Colored troops may be accepted by companies, to be afterward consolidated in battalions and regiments by the Adjutant General. The regiments will be numbered seriatim, in the order in which they are raised, the numbers to be determined by the Adjutant General. They will be designated '---Regiment of U.S. Colored Troops'…

VIII. The non-commissioned officers of colored troops may be selected and appointed from the best men of their number in the usual mode of appointing non-commissioned officers. Meritorious commissioned officers will be entitled to promotion to higher rank if they prove themselves equal to it…"

The internal printed pages have varying degrees of toning, soiling, and chipping at the edges. Some areas of insect damage to the later pages. Wear, rubbing, and scratching to the covers, along with bumping to corners. The binding is slightly loose. Overall very good.

On September 22, 1862, in a Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln warned the Confederacy that if they did not abandon the war, they would lose their slaves. He ultimately issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which took effect on January 1, 1863, in what would be the most important act of Lincoln’s presidency. In addition to its moral weight, the Proclamation tangibly aided the Union Army by depriving the Confederacy of essential labor by millions of slaves. It also encouraged the enlistment of black soldiers and deterred any European countries from backing the Confederacy. Without the Proclamation, the end result of the war may have been very different.

Charles E.G. Horn was a resident of Sauk City, Wisconsin, and enlisted in September 1861 as a First Lieutenant. He was commissioned into the 9th Wisconsin Infantry and was soon promoted to Captain. In early 1864, Horn was discharged for promotion and commissioned as a Lieutenant Colonel into the Field & Staff of the 65th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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