General Orders of the War Department, Adjutant General’s Office, Washington, January 2, 1863 to July 27, 1863. No. 1-235. [The Emancipation Proclamation].

[WEBB, Alexander S.].

$12,000.00

Item Number: 142567

Washington: Adjutant General's Office [Government Printing Office], January - July 1863.

First printings of over 200 orders of the War Department issued during the Civil War to Union Army commanders in the field, including an early appearance in print of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation (General order No. 1 of January 2, 1863). This copy prepared for General Alexander S. Webb, Brigadier General, winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor and the focus of Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg. Octavo, bound in full cloth. Association copy, specially prepared for Gen. Alexander Webb with an inscription to the third free endpaper, “Alexander S. Webb Brig. Gen. Vol. U.S.A. Fort Trumbull Ct. June 26th 1864.” United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War Alexander Stewart Webb received the Medal of Honor on September 28, 1891 for “distinguished personal gallantry in leading his men forward at a critical period in the contest” at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. As the Confederates launched a massive artillery barrage to prepare for their infantry assault in the Battle of Gettysburg, Webb made himself conspicuous to his men, many of whom were unfamiliar with their new commander. He stood in front of the line and leaned on his sword, puffing leisurely on a cigar while cannonballs whistled by and shells exploded all around. Although his men shouted at him to take shelter, he refused and impressed many with his personal bravery. Webb was ultimately wounded in his thigh and groin by a bullet, but kept going. With the help of two of Col. Norman J. Hall’s New York regiments, and Brig. Gen. William Harrow’s men, who ran over in a mass to get in their shots, Webb and his men brought the Confederate assault to a standstill, inflicting heavy casualties. Significantly, the first General Order in this volume is Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, declaring “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious areas “are and henceforward shall be free.” (Fifth edition, Eberstadt 12). Other important Orders include No. 100, April 24, Francis Leiber’s Code, the rules of conduct for Union soldiers, considered the first modern codification of the laws of war; No. 105, April 23, the establishment of the Invalid Corps; No. 143, May 22, the establishment of the United States Colored Troops; No. 194, June 27, the appointment of Major General George Meade as commander of the Army of the Potomac, who would defeat General Robert E. Lee at Gettysburg only days later. Many of the other General Orders concern prisoners of war, court martials, enlistments, soldiers absent without leave, acts of Congress, and other matters relating to the management of the Union Army. Sabin 26894. See Rosenbach 36:190. In very good condition.

Issued by United States President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation changed the legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in the secessionist Confederate states from enslaved to free. As soon as slaves escaped the control of their enslavers, either by fleeing to Union lines or through the advance of federal troops, they were permanently free. In addition, the Proclamation allowed for former slaves to "be received into the armed service of the United States." To ensure the abolition of slavery in all of the U.S., Lincoln also insisted that Reconstruction plans for Southern states require them to enact laws abolishing slavery (which occurred during the war in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana); Lincoln encouraged border states to adopt abolition (which occurred during the war in Maryland, Missouri, and West Virginia) and pushed for passage of the 13th Amendment. The Senate passed the 13th Amendment by the necessary two-thirds vote on April 8, 1864; the House of Representatives did so on January 31, 1865; and the required three-fourths of the states ratified it on December 6, 1865. The amendment made slavery and involuntary servitude unconstitutional, "except as a punishment for crime."