Of a vehement will, he was patient in council, deliberating long, hearing all things, yet in the moment of action deciding with rapidity.  Of a noble nature and incapable of disguise, his thoughts lay open to all around him and won their confidence by his ingenuous frankness.  His judgment was of that solidity that he ever tempered vigor with prudence.  The flushings of anger could never cloud his faculties, but rather kindled and lighted them up, quickening their energy without disturbing their balance.  In war his eye at a glance discerned his plans with unerring sagacity; in peace he proposed measures with an instinctive wisdom of which the inspirations were prophecy.  In discipline stern, in a just resolution inflexible, he was full of the gentlest affections, ever ready to solace the distressed and to relieve the needy, faithful to his friends, fervid for his country.  Indifferent to other rewards, he aspired throughout life to an honorable fame, and so loved his fellow-men that he longed to dwell in their affectionate remembrance.  Heaven gave him length of days and he filled them with deeds of greatness.  He was always happy—­happy in his youth, which shared the achievement of our national independence; happy in his after years, which beheld the Valley of the West cover itself with the glory of free and ever-increasing States; happy in his age, which saw the people multiply from two to twenty millions and freedom and union make their pathway from the Atlantic to the Pacific; thrice happy in death, for while he believed the liberties of his country imperishable and was cheered by visions of its constant advancement, he departed from this life in a full hope of a blessed immortality through the merits and atonement of the Redeemer.

Officers of the Army, the Navy, and the Marine Corps will wear crape on the left arm and on their swords and the colors of the several regiments will be put in mourning for the period of six months.  At the naval stations and the public vessels in commission the flags will be worn at half-mast for one week, and on the day after this order is received twenty-one minute guns will be fired, beginning at 12 o’clock.

At each military station the day after the reception of this order the national flag will be displayed at half-staff from sunrise to sunset, thirteen guns will be fired at daybreak, half-hour guns during the day, and at the close of the day a general salute.  The troops will be paraded at 10 o’clock and this order read to them, on which the labors of the day will cease.

Let the virtues of the illustrious dead retain their influence, and when energy and courage are called to trial emulate his example.

GEORGE BANCROFT,
  Acting Secretary of War, and Secretary of the Navy.

By order: 
  R. JONES,
    Adjutant-General.

FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE.

WASHINGTON, December 2, 1845.