President Lincoln declares void Union General David Hunter's South Carolina declaration of emancipation

Major General David Hunter, commander of the Department of the South and a long-time opponent of slavery, had already begun recruiting black soldiers without authority when on May 9, 1862 he issued his famous "General Order Number 11" which declared that since Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina were under federal martial law all slaves there were "declared forever free."  The Lincoln Administration, still politically committed to slow and compensated emancipation, declared this declaration void ten days later.  (By John Osborne)