In pursuance of the provisions of section 14 of the act of Congress entitled “An act to aid in the construction of a railroad and telegraph line from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, and to secure to the Government the use of the same for postal, military, and other purposes,” approved July 1, 1862, authorizing and directing the President of the United States to fix the point on the western boundary of the State of Iowa from which the Union Pacific Railroad Company is by said section authorized and required to construct a single line of railroad and telegraph upon the most direct and practicable route, subject to the approval of the President of the United States, so as to form a connection with the lines of said company at some point on the one hundredth meridian of longitude in said section named, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do, upon the application of the said company, designate and establish such first above-named point on the western boundary of the State of Iowa east of and opposite to the east line of section 10, in township 15 north, of range 13 east, of the sixth principal meridian, in the Territory of Nebraska.

Done at the city of Washington, this 7th day of March, A.D. 1864.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

Washington, D.C., March 10, 1864.

Under the authority of an act of Congress to revive the grade of lieutenant-general in the United States Army, approved February 29, 1864, Lieutenant-General Ulysses S. Grant, United States Army, is assigned to the command of the armies of the United States.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

GENERAL ORDERS, No. 98.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT-GENERAL’S OFFICE,

Washington, March 12, 1864.

The President of the United States orders as follows: 

I. Major-General H.W.  Halleck is, at his own request, relieved from duty as General in Chief of the Army, and Lieutenant-General U.S.  Grant is assigned to the command of the armies of the United States.  The headquarters of the Army will be in Washington and also with Lieutenant-General Grant in the field.

II.  Major-General H.W.  Halleck is assigned to duty in Washington as chief of staff of the Army, under the direction of the Secretary of War and the Lieutenant-General Commanding.  His orders will be obeyed and respected accordingly.

III.  Major-General W.T.  Sherman is assigned to the command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, composed of the departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, the Tennessee and the Arkansas.

IV.  Major-General J.B.  McPherson is assigned to the command of the Department and Army of the Tennessee.

V. In relieving Major-General Halleck from duty as General in Chief, the President desires to express his approbation and thanks for the able and zealous manner in which the arduous and responsible duties of that position have been performed.