May 16, 1862
News has not yet reached Washington of General Benjamin F. Butler’s order the previous day to treat the women of New Orleans be treated as prostitutes. President Lincoln is clear that no general has the right to issues orders regarding emancipation. He writes Secretary of Chase Salmon P. Chase: “No commanding general shall do such a thing, upon my responsibility, without consulting me.”
President Lincoln also sends to the Senate a treaty with Kansas Native Americans: “I transmit herewith for the constitutional action of the Senate, a treaty negotiated on the 13th of March 1862, between H. W. Farnsworth, a Commissioner on the part of the United States, and the authorized representatives of the Kansas tribe of Indians. A communication from the Secretary of the Interior, together with a letter of the Commissioner of Indian affairs suggesting certain amendments to the treaty, and enclosing papers relating thereto, are also transmitted.”
Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War 
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