Annotation
[1] ADS, DLC-Butler Papers. See Lincoln to Stanton January 23 and to Butler January 28, supra. A draft of an order is preserved in the Lincoln Papers with emendations in Stanton's autograph and dated February 17, 1863, which ordered (1) Butler's return to command of the Department of the Gulf and the creation of a separate department in Texas under command of General Nathaniel P. Banks; (2) the creation of a new department ``as soon as the navigation of the Mississippi is opened . . . to consist of the Department of the Gulf,---and so much of the Mississippi valley as is contained south of Cairo, in the States of Missouri and Arkansas on the west Bank and of Kentucky west of the Cumberland River, Western Tennessee and Mississippi on the Eastern Bank of the River, . . . to be called the Department of the Gulf and the Mississippi. . . . command assign[ed] to Maj. Gen. Butler,'' and (3) authorized Butler ``to enlist and organize such forces as he may deem expedient within these Departments. . . .'' (DLC-RTL). The order was never issued, however, and Butler did not return to New Orleans.