New York Herald, 4/16/1865, p. 2, c. 4

RICHMOND.
IMPORTANT ORDER FROM GENERAL ORD.
Permission for the Reassembling of the Late So-Called Virginia Legislature Rescinded.
WHEREABOUTS OF GENERAL LEE,
&c., &c., &c.,
[From the Richmond Whig, April 14]

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,
RICHMOND, Va., April 12, 1865.

Owing to recent events, the permission for the reassembling of the gentlemen recently acting as the Legislature of Virginia is rescinded. Should any of the gentlemen come to the city under the notice of reassembling already published they will be furnished passports to return to their homes. Any of the persons named in the call signed by J. A. Campbell and others, who are found in the city twelve hours after the publication of this notice will be subject to arrest, unless they are residents of this city.

E. O. C. ORD,
Major General Commanding the Department.

GENERAL ORDERS – NO. 37.

HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF VIRGINIA,
ARMY OF THE JAMES
RICHMOND, Va., April 13, 1865.

Provost Marshals will grant no passes to citizens from the North or to officers to come to this city, except on orders from the President, the Secretary of War, Lieutenant General Grant, or the Department Commander.

Officers and soldiers now in the city will retire to their respective commands at once, or be subject to arrest and confinement.

The Provost Marshal General is charged with the execution of this order.

By command of                                 Major General ORD.
E. W. SMITH, Assistant Adjutant General.

The Whig says Major General Godfrey Weitzel, commanding the Twenty-fourth army corps and commander of the forces occupying Richmond, has been relieved from his command and assigned to Petersburg and vicinity. Major General E. O. C. Ord, commanding the Army of the James, assumes command of the department.

The report that General R. E. Lee arrived in this city on Wednesday evening was incorrect. The statement originated in the fact that General Custis Lee had reached the city on a visit to his mother, Mrs. R. E. Lee. Custis Lee is a prisoner in the hands of the Union army, and, being at City Point, was kindly permitted to come to the city to see his mother, who was reported to be in ill health.

The whereabouts of General Robert E. Lee is not known here – at least not outside of official circles. He is daily expected at Richmond.

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