THE WAR OF THE REBELLION: A COMPILATION OF THE OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE UNION AND CONFEDERATE ARMIES. PREPARED BY The late Lieut. Col. ROBERT N. SCOTT, Third U. S. Artillery. PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF The Hon. REDFIELD PROCTOR, Secretary of War, BY MAJ. GEORGE B. DAVIS, U. S. A., MR. LESLIE J. PERRY, MR. JOSEPH W. KIRKLEY, Board of Publication. SERIES I-VOLUME XXXIV—IN FOUR PARTS. PART IV-CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1891. PART IV-VOL. XXXIV. CORRESPONDENCE, ORDERS, AND RETURNS RELATING TO OPERATIONS IN LOUISIANA AND THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI STATES AND TERRITORIES, FROM MAY 23, 1864, TO JUNE 30, 1864.* UNION CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.t GENERAL ORDERS, No. 3. HDQRS. DIV. OF WEST MISSISSIPPI, The headquarters offices of the division will be established for the present at Natchez, Miss., to which place all official communications intended for the division commander will be sent. The staff at division headquarters will be announced hereafter, but reports, returns, &c., will be addressed impersonally to the "adjutant-general," 'chief quartermaster," "chief commissary," &c., in order that they may, without delay, reach the office for which they are intended. In addition to the customary returns and reports prescribed by regulations, and which will be transmitted through the usual channels, the following official papers will be sent direct to the headquarters of the division. 1. A field return of the troops on the 1st, 11th, and 21st of each month, giving all the information required, in the prescribed form. This return will be sent direct from every command that is so far removed from the main body to which it is attached that it cannot be included in the return of that command on the day for which it is due. 2. A copy of each general or special order issued at the headquarters of departments, army corps, districts, or other separate commands by the first opportunity after the date of its issue. As far as practicable, the files of these orders, from the commencement of the year, will be made complete. 3. Reports or information specially called for by the chief of any department. In other cases they will be sent through the ordinary channels. 4. Reports conveying important military information in regard to our own or to the enemy's forces, duplicates being sent at the same time to the department, corps, or district commander. *Including Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Indian Territory, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Texas, and the Department of the Northwest, embracing Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. For Union and Confederate Correspondence from January 1, 1864, to March 31, 1864, see Part 11, and from April 1 to May 22, 1864, see Part III. (3) 5. The receipt of orders and official communications (except letters of acknowledgment) will be acknowledged by the first opportunity after their receipt, and the action taken upon such as require it will be reported. The above orders will also apply to the posts embraced in War Department Special Orders, No. 171, paragraph 52, of the 7th instant; but these requirements will not be so construed as to supersede or modify the relations now existing with the commanders of the departments in which the troops may be serving. The attention of commanding officers is called to the necessity of furnishing without delay returns of troops and reports of supplies, in order that the commanding general may be promptly and constantly advised of the resources of the division. By order of Maj. Gen. E. R. S. Canby: C. T. CHRISTENSEN, Major, Assistant Adjutant-General. GENERAL ORDERS, HDQRS. DIV. OF WEST MISSISSIPPI, Subsistence for troops in campaign will be limited to the essential articles of bread and meat, and a reduced amount of the small rations. When they can be provided, bacon and hard bread will be taken in preference to their equivalents, and the resources of the country in which they are to operate must be considered in determining the quantity of supplies to be taken. The number of rations to be carried in the haversacks will be determined by circumstances, but the troops will habitually have on hand three days' cooked rations, so as to be in readiness to move at any moment. The land transportation in every command will be put in perfect order, and commanders will make their preparations in accordance with the conditions above stated. Water transportation will be held in reserve, in accordance with the special instructions already given, and the troops intended for the field will be held in readiness to move at any moment and in any direction. To meet the enemy upon equal terms we must submit ourselves to the condition and circumstances under which he acts. To do this, everything that does not tend to increase the fighting force, or which is not essential to efficiency and rapidity of movement, must be abandoned; and the commanding general believes that the troops who have given so many evidences of valor, fortitude, and endurance will cheerfully submit to any temporary privations that may be necessary to insure the success of the cause in which we are engaged. By order of Maj. Gen. E. R. S. Canby: C. T. CHRISTENSEN, Major, Assistant Adjutant-General. GENERAL ORDERS, No. 5. HDQRS. DIV. OF WEST MISSISSIPPI, The depot for supplies of all troops operating west of the Mississippi, south of Arkansas River, and north of Port Hudson will be established at Vicksburg, Miss. By order of Maj. Gen. E. R. S. Canby: C. T. CHRISTENSEN, Major, Assistant Adjutant-General. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, Col. S. B. HOLABIRD, Chief Quartermaster: COLONEL: I am directed by the commanding general to acknowledge the receipt of General Roberts' letter and your indorsement. The Twentieth Regiment, Corps d'Afrique, is ordered to report to Major-General Reynolds, commanding Defenses of New Orleans, and will not return to Texas. Pass Cavallo is to be evacuated, and you will furnish transportation as rapidly as possible to carry out the orders to this effect. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, W. DWIGHT, Brigadier-General and Chief of Staff. |