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General Order number 38

Interestingly Wikipedia has an article on this rather obscure general order written by General Burnside in 1863.

It also appears to be in direct violation of our rights to freedom of speech at least in Ohio during the war.

The composer of the song Dixie, Daniel Emmett was from Mount Vernon, Ohio a rather small town in Knox County, Ohio about forty miles north of Columbus, Ohio. Mount Vernon, Ohio was also the place where Union officers dressed in civilian clothing heard the speech of Clement Vallandigham using the phase "King Lincoln" This was in violation of general order number 38 and caused his arrest.

This is not to suggest Mount Vernon had southern sympathies as many Union troops came from this small town.

At the Camp Chase Confederate Cemetery is the grave of only one citizen of Ohio whose tombstone reads "George Burgess Citizen of Ohio" He was arrested on July 18, 1863 in Cleveland, Ohio. Although his charges remain unknown at present, he too may have been the victim of General Order Number 38.

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