In executing these orders you will of course use your own discretion so to act as to avoid creating panic as far as possible.
Your obedient servant,
J. P. Benjamin, Secretary of War.
General Orders No. 8.
Adjutant and Inspector General's Office,
Richmond, March 1, 1862.
I. The following proclamation of the President is published for the information of all concerned:
A PROCLAMATION.
By virtue of the power vested in me by law to declare the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in cities threatened with invasion:
I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, do proclaim that martial law is hereby extended over the city of Richmond and the adjoining and surrounding country to the distance of ten miles; and I do proclaim the suspension of all civil jurisdiction, with the exception of that of the Mayor of the city, and the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus within the said city and surrounding country to the distance aforesaid.
| [L. S.] | In faith whereof, I have hereunto signed my name and set my seal at the city of Richmond, on this first day of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two. |
Jefferson Davis.
II. Brigadier General J. H. Winder, commanding Department of Henrico, is charged with the due execution of the foregoing proclamation. He will forthwith establish an efficient military police, and will enforce the following orders:
All distillation of spirituous liquors is positively prohibited, and the distilleries will forthwith be closed. The sale of spirituous liquors of any kind is also prohibited, and the establishments for the sale thereof will be closed.
III. All persons infringing the above prohibition will suffer such punishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a court-martial, provided
