Today in History:

585 Series I Volume VIII- Serial 8 - Pea Ridge

Page 585 Chapter XVIII. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.-UNION.

must accompany the application when forwarded to the superintendent aforesaid.

3rd. Boats engaging in this trade and transportation under such license are, of course, subject to the revenue laws of the United States, and must comply fully and faithfully with the regulations and instructions of the Treasury Department, now in force or which may hereafter be adopted, for the control of the commercial and personal intercourse of the sections under view.

II. To render uniform the customs now in a measure governing the trade and travel of the interior and to subserve the ends of order and law it is further directed--

1st. That the permit system, made necessary by the persistent efforts of persons in the loyal States who sympathize with those engaged in the rebellion, and by peddlers and corrupt traffickers, many of whom have come from disloyal States and sections expressly for this purpose, to smuggle goods, medicines, and other supplies through to the insurrectionists, shall be enforced on the Tennessee and the Cumberland as it is on the Ohio and Mississippi.

2nd. That the examination and sealing of baggage of travelers, introduced mainly by reason of the frequent and illegal conveyance of packages of letters to and fro between the North and the South after the rebellion had destroyed the postal facilities of the latter section, be extended by the custom-house officers so as to embrace the country on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers; and.

3rd. That water craft, railroad cars, and all ordinary wheeled vehicles be, until otherwise ordered, prohibited from conveying into the country on the Tennessee and Cumberland baggage not sealed and merchandise not covered by custom-house permits or shipped by military authority.

III. These orders are issued only as a measure of safety, to guard against illegal or improper intercourse and exchanges of commodities, and are not intended to impose additional expenses of commodities, kind upon trade, or in any manner interfere with the freedom of legitimate and proper transportation or travel. Consequently--

1st. No charge will be made by the superintendent of transportation for the special license required to be taken out for the time being.

2nd. Blank forms will be supplied to the several surveyors of customs within this department for use without cost to parties making application for license; and,

3rd. The surveyors aforesaid will use liberally, though cautiously, the discretion with which they are intrusted in the issue of permits to cover goods, wares, and merchandise going forward for commerce or family supply.

IV. Surveyors and other officers of the customs, if resisted in the proper discharge of their duties, will call for aid upon the commander of the nearest military post or encampment, and at places where there and no custom-house officers or agents such commanders are authorized mission of letters and other mail matter by any other than the regularly-established post-office channels and agencies, or the transportation of merchandise or supplies of any description not covered by a custom-house permit or going under the sanction of military authority.

By command of Major-General Halleck:

N. H. McLEAN,

Assistant Adjutant-General.


Page 585 Chapter XVIII. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.-UNION.