On December 8, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a Proclamation offering amnesty to all citizens of the Confederacy who swore an oath to uphold the US constitution.



Because of confusion over who was to administer the oath, Lincoln issued another proclamation on March 26, 1864, empowering "any commissioned officer, civil, military, or naval in the service of the United States", as well as those persons in the territories which were "not in insurrection who were by the laws therefore qualified for administering oaths." Both Proclamations specified that military prisoners and others held for crimes against the United States were ineligible for amnesty, although Confederate deserters could volunteer to take the oath. Learn more from the University of Southern Mississippi.