“Six weeks before his imprisonment and deportation Vallandigham made some remarks at a March 21, 1863 meeting in Hamilton, Ohio, that must have been he last straw for the Lincoln dictatorship. The dictatorship had issued yet another military “general order” (General Order Number 15) – this time one that condemned the private ownership of firearms as “unnecessary, impolitic, and dangerous” and “a violation of civil law” as defined by the military authorites then occupying Ohio. “Are we a conquered province governed by a military proconsul?”, Vallandigham asked, “And has it come to this, that the Constitution is now suspended by a military General Order? “Yes” would have been the appropriate and obvious answer.”
via Copperhead: Words That Got a U.S. Congressman Deported by Thomas DiLorenzo.