U.S. War Department Collection

1865
Manuscript Collection #986
Creator(s)
Nichols, William Augustus, 1818-1869
Physical description
0.001 Cubic Feet, 1 item , consisting of a general order
Preferred Citation
U.S. War Department Collection (#986), East Carolina Manuscript Collection, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
Repository
ECU Manuscript Collection
Access
No restrictions


Biographical/historical information

Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the United States, was elected on November 6, 1860. He had married Mary Todd in 1842 and they had four sons. His election helped precipitate the start of the Civil War in 1861. The war is generally seen as ending on April 9, 1865, with the Confederate General Robert E. Lee's surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, but sporadic battles continued into May. On April 14, 1865, while attending a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., Abraham Lincoln was shot by Confederate sympathizer, John Wilkes Booth, and he subsequently died.

Source: https://www.civilwar.org/learn/biographies/abraham-lincoln


Scope and arrangement

This collection consists of War Department General No. Order 69, signed by the Assistant Adjutant General, W.A. Nichols on April 17, 1865, giving instructions on how military posts would behave on the day of President Lincoln's funeral (April 19, 1865). It instructs a 21-gun salute to be held for the president at 12 o clock PM, all flags to be at half-mast for the day on all military posts and at the military academy, and the suspension of labor on the posts for the day.


Administrative information
Custodial History

January 7, 2004, 1 item, 0.001 cubic feet; War Department General Order No. 69 (17 April 1865) of the Secretary of War, closing the War Department the following Wednesday (April 19) for the funeral of President Abraham Lincoln, issued from the Adjutant General's Office and signed by the Assistant Adjutant General W. A. Nichols. (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1865). Purchase by Joyner Library from Sompayrac

Source of acquisition

Purchase by Joyner Library from Sompayrac

Processing information

Encoded by Mark Custer, March 17, 2008

Processing completed by Leah Turner on April 19, 2018, and Martha Elmore July 18, 2018

Copyright notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.


Key terms
Personal Names
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865--Death and burial