Letter

Major-General Foster to Edwin M. Stanton, October 15, 1863

Fort MONROE

(Received 11.15 a. m.) Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War:

I have the honor to acknowledge your telegrams of October 14. Hereafter all cases of application to go beyond our lines will be submitted to you for approval. In the present case shall I forward descriptive lists of those proposed to be passed and await your

approval? J. G. FOSTER, Major-General of Volunteers.

GENERAL ORDERS, Hpers. DEPT. oF V. A. AND N. C., No. 19 Fort Monroe, Va., October 15, 1863.

The people of the county of Norfolk and the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth having duly elected judicial officers, and such officers having duly entered upon their duties, it is hereby ordered that the provost court of this department shall no longer entertain jurisdiction of civil suits in those places, excepting those in which any officer or enlisted man in the United States Army or Navy, or any person in the employ of the United States military or naval forces, shall be a party, or in which any property, real or personal, owned or claimed by the United States, or the United States forces, or any

erson serving in them, shall be at stake. This order shall not be eI. to in any way affect suits now pending in the provost court, nor the existence of martial law in this department.

By command of Major-General Foster:

SOUTHARD HOFFMAN,
Assistant Adjutant-General.
MARTINSBURG, V. A., October 16 [15], 1863.
(Received 2.30 a. m.)
H. W. HALuLeck,
General-in-Chief:
Srr: From rebel prisoners captured to-day I honestly believe that
two brigades of Johnson's division, Longstreet's corps, crossed yesterday morning, the 14th, at daylight, near Strasburg, in the direction
Editor's Notes
From: Operations in N. Virginia, W. Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Pt. 1. Location: Fort MONROE. Summary: Major-General Foster informs Secretary of War Stanton that all requests to pass beyond Union lines will require his approval and announces the transfer of civil jurisdiction in Norfolk and Portsmouth to local judicial officers, limiting military courts to cases involving military personnel or property.
Sources
The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 29, Part 1 View original source ↗