r  ^       -I  Done  at  the  city  of  Washington,  this  19th  day  of  November,

A.  D.  1864,  and  of  the  Independence  of  the  United  States  the
eighty-ninth.  ABRAHAM   I.INCOI.N.
By  the  President:

WiLi^iAM  H.  Seward,

Secretary  of  State.
EXECUTIVE  ORDERS.
Executive  Mansion,
Washington,  D.  C. ,  December  7,  i86j.
Reliable  information  being  received  that  the  insurgent  force  is  retreat-
ing from  east  Tennessee  under  circumstances  rendering  it  probable  that
the  Union  forces  can  not  hereafter  be  dislodged  from  that  important  posi-
tion, and  esteeming  this  to  be  of  high  national  consequence,  I  recommend


Abraham  Lincoln  231

that  all  loyal  people  do,  on  receipt  of  this  information,  assemble  at  their
places  of  worship  and  render  special  homage  and  gratitude  to  Almighty
God  for  this  great  advancement  of  the  national  cause.
A.  LINCOLN.
General  Orders,  No.  398.
War  Department,
Adjutant- General's  Office,

Washington,  December  21 ,  1863.
The  following  joint  resolution  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Represent-
atives of  the  United  States  is  pubhshed  to  the  Army:

JOINT  RESOLUTION  of  thanks  to  Major-General  Ulysses  S.  Grant  and  the  officers  and  soldiers
who  have  fought  under  his  command  during  this  rebellion,  and  providing  that  the  President
of  the  United  States  shall  cause  a  medal  to  be  struck,  to  be  presented  to  Major-General  Grant  in
the  name  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  of  America.
