r any circumstances be
detailed to accept a new command.

By order of the President:

EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.

SPECIAL ORDERS, No. 218.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

_Washington, September 2, 1862_.

* * * * *

By direction of the President, all the clerks and employees of the civil
Departments and all the employees on the public buildings in Washington
will be immediately organized into companies, under the direction of
Brigadier-General Wadsworth, and will be armed and supplied with
ammunition, for the defense of the capital.

By command of Major-General Halleck:

F.D. TOWNSEND,

_Assistant Adjutant-General_.

EXECUTIVE ORDER ESTABLISHING A PROVISIONAL COURT IN LOUISIANA.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington City, October 20, 1862_.

The insurrection which has for some time prevailed in several of the
States of this Union, including Louisiana, having temporarily subverted
and swept away the civil institutions of that State, including the
judiciary and the judicial authorities of the Union, so that it has
become necessary to hold the State in military occupation, and it being
indispensably necessary that there shall be some judicial tribunal
existing there capable of administering justice, I have therefore
thought it proper to appoint, and I do hereby constitute, a provisional
court, which shall be a court of record, for the State of Louisiana; and
I do hereby appoint Charles A. Peabody, of New York, to be a provisional
judge to hold said court, with authority to hear, try, and determine all
causes, civil and criminal, including causes in law, equity, revenue,
and admiralty, and particularly all such powers and jurisdiction as
belong to the district and circuit courts of the United States,
conforming his proceedings so far as possible to the course of
proceedings and practice which has been customary in the courts of the
United States and Louisiana, his judgment to be final and conclusive.
And I do hereby authorize and empower the said judge to make and
establish such rules and regulations as may be necessary for the
exercise of his jurisdiction, and empower the said judge to appoint a
prosecuting attorney, marshal, and clerk of the said court, who shall
perform the functions of attorney, marshal, and clerk according to such
proceedings and practice as before mentioned and such rules and
regulations as may be made and e