First Annual Message
12/02/1861
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu...
Its observance will be strictly enforced by all officers, civil, military, and naval in the service of the United States...
In order to supply the aforesaid deficiency and to provide for casualties in the military and naval service of the Unite...
Induced by a dispatch from General Grant, I join you at Fort Monroe as soon as I come.
He thought this measure was a very fitting if not an indispensable adjunct to the winding up of the great difficulty.