"If Any One Attempts to Haul Down the American Flag" (1861)

BY SECRETARY JOHN ADAMS DIX

Treasury Department, January 29, 1861.

TELL Lieutenant Caldwell to arrest Captain Breshwood, assume command of the cutter, and obey the order I gave through you. If Captain Breshwood, after arrest, undertakes to interfere with the command of the cutter, tell Lieutenant Caldwell to consider him as a mutineer, and treat him accordingly. If any one attempts to haul clown the American flag, shoot him on the spot.

JOHN A. DIX,

Secretary of the Treasury.

Morgan Dix, (New York, 1883), I, 371.