John Woolley,
Lt. Col. and Provost Marshal.
This order is innocent enough in its appearance, but it is really the executive action upon a subject almost as vital in its effects as any of the great battles of the war.
Under date of May 17th a proclamation, calling for four hundred thousand more troops, purporting to be from President Lincoln, was issued, and was published in certain papers; among them the New York "World". The following is a copy:
Executive Mansion, May 17, 1864.
Fellow Citizens of the United States:
In all seasons of exigency it becomes a nation carefully to scrutinize its line of conduct, humbly to approach the throne of Grace, and meekly to implore forgiveness, wisdom, and guidance.
For reasons known only to Him, it has been decreed that this country should be the scene of unparalleled outrage, and this nation the monumental sufferer of the nineteenth century. With a heavy heart, but an undiminished confidence in our cause, I approach the performance of a duty rendered imperative by my sense of weakness before Almighty God and of justice to the people.
It is not necessary that I should tell you that the first Virginia campaign, under Lieut. General Grant, in whom I have every confidence, and whose courage and fidelity the people do well to honor, is virtually closed. He has conducted his great enterprise with discreet ability. He has crippled their strength and defeated their plans.
In view, however, of the situation in Virginia, the disaster at Red river, the delay at Charleston, and the general state of the country, I, Abraham Lincoln, do hereby recommend that Thursday, the 26th day of May, A.D., 1864, be solemnly set apart throughout these United States as a day of fasting, humiliation and prayer.
Deeming, furthermore, that the present condition of public affairs presents an extraordinary occasion, and in view of the pending expiration of the service of (100,000) one hundred thousand of our troops, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power vested in me by the Constitution and the laws, have thought fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth the citizens of the United States between the ages of (18) eighteen and (45) forty-five years, to the aggregate number of (400,000) four hundred thousand, in order to suppress the existing rebellious combinations, and to cause the due execution of the laws.