military agents of the Government transfer
to the assistant commissioner of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and
Abandoned Lands for Alabama the use and custody of all real estate,
buildings, or other property, except cotton, seized or held by them in
that State as belonging to the late rebel government, together with
all such funds as may arise or have arisen from the rent, sale, or
disposition of such property which have not been finally paid into
the Treasury of the United States.

ANDREW JOHNSON,

_President_.

GENERAL ORDERS, N0. 164.

WAR DEPARTMENT,
ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
_Washington, November 24, 1865_.

_Ordered_, That--

I. All persons claiming reward for the apprehension of John Wilkes
Booth, Lewis Payne, G.A. Atzerodt, and David E. Herold, and Jefferson
Davis, or either of them, are notified to file their claims and their
proofs with the Adjutant-General for final adjudication by the special
commission appointed to award and determine upon the validity of such
claims before the 1st day of January next, after which time no claims
will be received.

II. The rewards offered for the arrest of Jacob Thompson, Beverley
Tucker, George N. Sanders, William G. Cleary, and John H. Surratt are
revoked.

By order of the President of the United States:

E.D. TOWNSEND,

_Assistant Adjutant-General_.

FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE.

WASHINGTON, _December 4, 1865_.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

To express gratitude to God in the name of the people for the
preservation of the United States is my first duty in addressing you.
Our thoughts next revert to the death of the late President by an act
of parricidal treason. The grief of the nation is still fresh. It finds
some solace in the consideration that he lived to enjoy the highest
proof of its confidence by entering on the renewed term of the Chief
Magistracy to which he had been elected; that he brought the civil war
substantially to a close; that his loss was deplored in all parts of the
Union, and that foreign nations have rendered justice to his memory.
His removal cast upon me a heavier weight of cares than ever devolved
upon any one of his predecessors. To fulfill my trust I need the support
and confidence of all who are associated with me in the various
departments of Government and the support and confidence of the people.
There is but one way in which I can hope to gain their necessary aid.
It is to