The War Department suspends military recruitment across the North

Following a series of highly encouraging advances, and with "the force now in the field deemed amply sufficient for the suppression of the rebellion and the termination of the war," Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton issued a general order suspending all further army recruiting efforts and directed all offices closed and recruiters to return to their regiments. Considered in hindsight a serious error, especially when Confederate counterattacks took hold and the march on Richmond failed, the action hampered enlistment efforts for the remainder of the war.  (By John Osborne)