Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood
May 3, 1862

1. 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 State of America, do proclaim that martial law is hereby extended over the counties of Lee, Wise, Buchanan, McDowell and Wyoming, under the command of Brig.-Gen. Humphrey Marshall; 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 third day of May, in the year one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.

Jefferson Davis.

2. Brig.-Gen. Humphrey Marshall is charged with the due execution of the foregoing proclamation. He will forthwith establish an efficient military police, and will enforce the following orders:

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.

3. All persons infringing the above prohibitions, 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: May 1862