Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood
March 29, 1862

General Orders,
No. 18.

War Department,
Adjt. And Insp. General's Office,
Richmond, March 29, 1862.

I.The following proclamation is published for the information of all concerned:

By virtue of the power vested in me by law to declare the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus:

I, Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, do proclaim that martial law is hereby extended over the counties of Greenbrier, Pocahontas, Bath, Alleghany, Monroe, Mercer, Raleigh, Fayette, Nicholas, and Randolph, and I do proclaim the suspension of all civil jurisdiction (with the exception of that enabling the courts to take cognizance of the probate of wills, the administration of the estates of deceased persons, the qualification of guardians, to enter decrees and orders for the partition and sale of property, to make orders concerning roads and bridges, to assess county levies, and to order the payment of county dues), and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in the counties aforesaid.

In faith whereof I have hereunto signed my name and set my seal this the 29th day of March, in the year 1862.

Jefferson Davis.

II. Brig. Gen. Henry Heth is charged with the due execution of the foregoing proclamation. He will forthwith establish an efficient military police, and will enforce the following orders:

III. 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 establishments for the sale thereof will be closed.

IV. All persons infringing the above prohibition will suffer such punishment as shall be ordered by the sentence of a court martial; provided that no sentence to hard labor for more than one month shall be inflicted by the sentence of a regimental court martial as directed by the Sixty-seventh Article of War.

By command of the Secretary of War:

S. Cooper,
Adjutant and Inspector General.

Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: March 1862