Washington, May 1, 1863.
Major-General Wool,
Commanding at New York:
By virtue of the act of Congress authorizing the President to take possession of railroad and telegraph lines, etc., passed February 4, 1862, the President directs that you take immediate military possession of the telegraph lines lately established between Philadelphia and Boston, called the Independent Telegraph Company, and forbid the transmission of any intelligence relating to the movements of the Army of the Potomac or any military forces of the United States. In case this order is violated arrest and imprison the perpetrators in Fort Delaware, reporting to the Department. If the management of the line will stipulate to transmit no military intelligence without the sanction of the War Department, they need not be interfered with so long as the engagement is fulfilled. This order will be executed so as not to interfere with the ordinary business of the telegraph company.
By order of the President:
E.M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
Source: Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1789-1897, Volume X, James D. Richardson, ed., p 109
[From official records. War Department.]
Abraham Lincoln, Message from Secretary of War Edwin Stanton to Major-General John E. Wool Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/379192