Monday, July 10, 2000
Volume 36, Issue 27; ISSN: 0511-4187
Proclamation--President Lincoln and Soldiers' Home National Monument
William J Clinton
� Proclamation--President Lincoln and Soldiers' Home National
Monument
� July 7,2000
� By the President of the United States of America
� A Proclamation
� Each year from 1862 through 1864, President Abraham Lincoln and his
family left the White House to take up residence during the warm
weather months at Anderson Cottage, a home in northwest Washington,
D.C., on the grounds of a site then known as the Soldiers' Home. It
is estimated that President Lincoln spent one quarter of his
presidency at this home, riding out to it many evenings from late
June until early November. The house and surrounding land are now
part of the U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home, a component of the
Armed Forces Retirement Home, an independent establishment in the
executive branch. This house and its grounds are objects of great
historic significance and interest.
� It was here, in September of 1862, that President Lincoln completed
the drafting of the Emancipation Proclamation. His second floor
bedroom and much of the rest of the house are configured as they
were when he was in residence, and original mantels, woodwork, and
windows are retained. A magnificent copper beech tree under which he
read and relaxed is still growing at the site. It was also from this
house that, in July of 1864, he traveled 2 miles north to view the
battle of Fort Stevens, during which he actually came under fire as
he stood beside the Union troops defending the capital. The house
has been designated a National Historic Landmark by the National
Park Service.
� The land was purchased by the Federal Government through the
Soldiers' Home Trust Fund in 1851 to establish a home for invalid
and disabled soldiers of the U.S. Army, the first such attempt to
provide for members of the regular army. The house was first used as
a summer retreat by President Buchanan from 1857 to 1860, and
continued to be used as such by several presidents, including
President Hayes from 1877 to 1880 and President Arthur from 1882 to
1884. It became known as Anderson Cottage in honor of Major Robert
Anderson, the Union commanding officer at Fort Sumter at the
outbreak of the Civil War.
� Section 2 of the Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 431),
authorizes the President, in his discretion, to declare by public
proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric
structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest
that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the
Government of the United States to be national monuments, and to
reserve as a part thereof parcels of lands, the limits of which in
all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the
proper care and management of the objects to be protected.
� Whereas it appears that it would be in the public interest to
reserve such lands as a national monument to be known as the
President Lincoln and Soldiers' Home National Monument:
� Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United
States of America, by the authority vested in me by section 2 of the
Act of June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225, 16 U.S.C. 431), do proclaim that
there are hereby set apart and reserved as the President Lincoln and
Soldiers' Home National Monument for the purpose of protecting the
objects identified above, all lands and interests in lands owned or
controlled by the United States within the boundaries of the area
described on the map entitled "President Lincoln and Soldiers' Home
National Monument" attached to and forming a part of this
proclamation. The Federal land and interests in land reserved
consist of approximately 2.3 acres, which is the smallest area
compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be
protected.
� All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries of
this monument are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from all forms
of entry, location, selection, sale, or leasing or other disposition
under the public land or other Federal laws, including but not
limited to withdrawal from location, entry, and patent under the
mining laws, and from disposition under all laws relating to mineral
and geothermal leasing.
� The monument historically has been a part of the U.S. Soldiers' and
Airmen's Home, a facility administered by the Armed Forces
Retirement Home, an independent establishment of the Executive
Branch. The Armed Forces Retirement Home, through the U.S. Soldiers'
and Airmen's Home, shall manage the monument as an integral part of
that surrounding facility and consistent with the purposes and
provisions of this proclamation. In managing the monument, the Armed
Forces Retirement Home shall consult with the Secretary of the
Interior through the National Park Service.
� For the purpose of preserving, restoring, and enhancing the
public's appreciation of the monument, the Armed Forces Retirement
Home shall prepare, in consultation with the Secretary of the
Interior through the National Park Service, a management plan for
this monument within 3 years of this date. Further, to the extent
authorized, the Armed Forces Retirement Home shall promulgate, in
consultation with the Secretary of the Interior through the National
Park Service, regulations for the proper care and management of the
objects identified above.
� Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke any existing
withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; however, the national
monument shall be the dominant reservation. Warning is hereby given
to all unauthorized persons not to appropriate, injure, destroy, or
remove any feature of this monument and not to locate or settle upon
any of the lands thereof.
� In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day of
July, in the year of our Lord two thousand, and of the Independence
of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-fifth.
� William J. Clinton
� NOTE: At the time of publication, this proclamation had not been
received by the Office of the Federal Register for assignment of a
proclamation number.
