The Cabinet met to discuss the possible suspension of habeas corpus in military matters. The judicial branch had actually been hindering the draft by using the writ. Judges had actually been throwing draft officials in jail to keep them from their duties of bring men into the service of the Union army. After much discussion, the Cabinet approved the suspension of the writ. The order for marshals to ignore the writs was finalized and announced on September 17.
The president also sent an urgent message to Governor Andrew Johnson of Tennessee to "do your utmost to get every man you can, black or white, under arms at the very earliest moment" and to "exercise such powers as may be necessary to enable the people of Tennessee to have a republican form of state government."
In his dispatch to General Halleck, the president reiterates his position on the Confederate Army, telling the general that the Army of the Potomac should have as its primary objective General Robert E. Lee's army and not Richmond.
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