The SECRETARY OF WAR:
In view of the well-known fact that the sale of intoxicating liquors in the Army of the United States is the cause of much demoralization among both officers and men, and that it gives rise to a large proportion of the cases before general and garrison courts-martial, involving great expense and serious injury to the service--
It is therefore directed , That the Secretary of War take suitable steps, as far as practicable consistently with vested rights, to prevent the sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage at the camps, forts, and other posts of the Army.
R.B. HAYES
Rutherford B. Hayes, Executive Order Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/204751