sary for me to give Captain Hart any minute instructions. He is well acquainted in that vicinity. I will simply say I want McNeill killed, captured, or driven out of this valley. B. F. KELLEY, SPECIAL ORDERS, HDQRS. MIDDLE DEPT., 8TH ARMY CORPS, 1. Col. J. G. Lowe, commanding One hundred and thirty-first Regiment Ohio National Guard, having reported to these headquarters in obedience to orders of Major-General Heintzelman, is hereby ordered to proceed with his regiment to Fort McHenry and report to Bvt. Brig. Gen. W. W. Morris, commanding Second Separate Brigade. By command of Major-General Wallace: SAMUEL B. LAWRENCE, SPECIAL ORDERS, HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF WASHINGTON, 5. So much of paragraph 6, Special Orders, No. 124, current series, from these headquarters as relates to Company F, Twenty-first. Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps, and Two hundred and second Company, First Battalion, Veteran Reserve Corps, is hereby revoked. Company F, Twenty-first Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps, will proceed at once to its proper station at Rendezvous of Distribution, Va., and be reported to the commanding officer of that post for duty. * * * 10. The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Depot Companies, Veteran Reserve Corps, having been reported at these headquarters, in compliance with orders from the Provost-Marshal-General, will proceed at once to Alexandria, Va., and be reported to BrigadierGeneral Slough, military governor, for duty with the Twelfth Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps, to which regiment they have been assigned. The quartermaster's department will furnish the necessary transportation. By command of Major-General Augur: SPECIAL ORDERS, C. H. RAYMOND, Assistant Adjutant-General. HEADQUARTERS HASKIN'S DIVISION, 1. The One hundred and seventieth Regiment Ohio National Guard, Col. M. J. Saunders commanding, having reported at these headquarters, is hereby assigned as follows, and will report to Colonel Miller, commanding Second Brigade: One company at Battery Vermont, one company at Fort Gaines, five companies at Fort Simmons, two companies at Fort Mansfield, and one company at Fort Bayard. 2. The four companies of the One hundred and fifty-first Ohio National Guard at Forts Simmons and Mansfield will move without delay to Fort Sumner, and report to the commanding officer, Colonel Marble, at Fort Sumner. 3. The two companies at Forts Bayard and Gaines, of the One hundred and sixty-third Ohio National Guard, will move without delay to Fort Reno, and report to Colonel Miller. 4. The detachments of companies of the First New Hampshire Artillery at Batteries Vermont and Kemble will move without delay to Battery Cameron. 5. The Ninth New York Independent Battery will move without delay from Fort Sumner to Battery Kemble. 6. Company B, Maine Coast Guard, will move without delay from Fort Sumner to Fort Foote and report to Captain Barton. Chief of Staff and Assistant Adjutant-General: COLONEL: I had the honor of informing you yesterday morning that after receiving one more regiment I should not have quarters for any more. Since that communication was written the One hundred and sixty-ninth and One hundred and thirty-eighth Ohio Infantry have reported and been assigned to duty at Ethan Allen and other posts. I have no more barracks room to spare, and I now request that the One hundred and forty-seventh Regiment Ohio Infantry may be supplied with tents before leaving Washington, and directed to cross at Aqueduct Bridge, halting in front of Fort Corcoran until I can send a staff officer to select a camping-ground. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, G. A. DE RUSSY, Brigadier-General, Commanding. CAMP NEAR CEDAR CREEK, May 23, 1864. Hon. E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War: Major-General Sigel, actuated by an earnest patriotism, was anxious to take a division in this army or attend to any other duty. Upon consultation with him I have deemed it best to place him in command of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the reserve troops in that region. I have ordered General Kelley and General Weber to report to General Sigel, and to be subject to his command. D. HUNTER, Major-General, Commanding. WASHINGTON, May 23, 1864-10.30 a. m. Major-General HUNTER, Cedar Creek, Va. : Energetic and efficient brigadiers are scarce. Name any you want who are available and you shall have them. General Grant telegraphed last evening that Breckinridge had joined Lee. Major-General HUNTER, H. W. HALLECK, Major-General and Chief of Staff. WASHINGTON, May 23, 1864-9 p. m. Cedar Creek: There are no vacancies of brigadier-general of volunteers. You have three generals of cavalry in your department, Stahel, Duffié, and Averell, certainly enough for your cavalry force. If any are worthless recommend them to be mustered out and I will indorse it. No one can be appointed till some one else is mustered out. H. W. HALLECK, Major-General and Chief of Staff. 5. The whole artillery of this command will report direct to the chief of artillery on the staff of the major-general commanding, and hereafter will be completely independent of brigade and division organizations. 11. The general commanding directs that no citizens, male or female, be allowed to enter our lines, and that no citizen, male or female, residing within our lines, or already within our lines, be permitted to go outside them. Generals commanding divisions and brigades will see that this order is rigidly executed, and the provostmarshal will seize any citizen, male or female, found within our lines, irrespective of any pass or pretended authority they may have for so being. Such cases will be reported to headquarters and orders will be given thereupon. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA, Maj. Gen. FRANZ SIGEL, Comdg. Reserve Division, &c., Martinsburg, W. Va.: GENERAL: I am instructed by the major-general commanding to represent to you that many regiments of this command are greatly crippled from the fact that large detachments of picked men have been drawn from them who are now on duty at other posts. Thus at Beverly there is a very large force of the picked men and officers of the Fifteenth New York Cavalry, thus rendering the part of the regiment here of little value. The major-general commanding begs that you will tax your resources to find means by which all officers, non-commissioned officers, and enlisted men, belonging to regiments, battalions, or independent companies in this command, may be forthwith returned for duty here, where their services are so urgently and imminently needed. And in particular General Hunter desires that you will at once endeavor to relieve all the cavalry detachments belonging to General Stahel's division now serving in the district under your command. The major-general commanding relies upon your cordial co-operation, and while not wishing you to do anything that would strip your district and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad of necessary protection, he trusts and believes that you will fully appreciate the importance of making the army in the field as effective as possible; and that you will give prompt personal attention to the execution of so much of these instructions as may not be in direct opposition to your views of the force necessary to the discharge of your own duties. I have the honor to be, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. W. H. SEWARD, CHAS. G. HALPINE, Assistant Adjutant-General. WHEELING, W. Va., May 23, 1864. Secretary of State, Washington City: SIR: I feel it due to the kindness you have always shown me that I should explain the cause of my having requested to be relieved from duty under General Sigel just before the battles, and which conduct I felt after the fighting began might be attributed to want of courage or of interest in the cause. I found myself directed to command an important expedition through the heart of Virginia, planned by General Grant, the men, material, and details to be provided by the general commanding the department, who, for good and sufficient reasons, had been placed in his command by the President. The success of the expedition depended as much upon its strength and organization as upon its proper management after starting. I made up my mind to make no complaints of my department commander, and when I found what sort of force he had provided, this left me to choose either failure and defeat, or a recommendation that my expedition be abandoned. On examining the subject and the respective strength of the three columns-General Sigel's, General Crook's, and mine-about to start, I found that if mine was abandoned the force would go mainly to General Crook, and that he needed it. Reports to this effect were made to General Grant at the same time that I requested to be relieved. The force allowed me by General Sigel was about one-half what he was directed should be the least force of my column, and I now state that when I informed him that he was to come to a certain point with supplies that my men might not starve, he stated to me in so many words, "I don't think I shall do it. I don't think I shall do it ;" and I knew he would not. As I had been sent to the department of General Sigel only to command that expedition, with its abandonment my presence there ceased to be necessary. All this, and my never having had to present my back to an enemy, my being placed under General S., mortified me and caused the step I took. The Secretary of War, I learned, sustains me, as does General Grant. General Schenck has been prejudiced against me by his former chief of staff, Donn Piatt, whom I found it necessary once to treat sternly. Perhaps if General Schenck knew me we would be better friends, for I hear he thinks I should be dismissed. Excuse my taxing your time, and should the opportunity occur, I would be gratified to think the President had learned the contents of this Ietter. I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant, E. O. C. ORD, GENERAL ORDERS,} In the Field, near Cedar Creek, May 23, 1864. HDQRS. DEPT. OF WEST VIRGINIA, I. Capt. Michael Auer, Company A, Fifteenth New York Cavalry, having, on the morning of the 22d instant, allowed a reserve picket guard of about thirty men under his command to be disgracefully surprised and captured by a party of the enemy, consisting of mounted and dismounted men, the reserve picket guard not firing a shot, and the result being the loss on our side of 11 men, 45 horses, and some small-arms captured, Capt. Michael Auer, Company A, Fifteenth New York Cavalry, is hereby dishonorably discharged the service of the United States from this date, subject to the approval of His Excellency the President, to whom this order will be immediately forwarded.* II. The major-general commanding accepts this opportunity of announcing that all officers commanding guards, outposts, and pickets will be held strictly responsible for the performance of their duties, and that no excuse will be accepted for such officers, if guilty of negligence, inactivity, or misconduct before the enemy. In this department, and especially on the expedition now about moving, the vigilant and effectual performance of outpost and picket duty is of supreme importance, involving the safety and success of the entire command. Officers of outpost and picket, assailed by a superior force, who do their whole duty, feel the enemy's strength, and fall back fighting, bringing with them all attainable information, will be promptly recognized and their good conduct rewarded; but toward derelict officers of guards, outposts, and pickets, no leniency will in any case be shown, as any error on the side of mercy in such cases would be a crime against the whole command, put in jeopardy by their negligence or inefficiency. This order will be read immediately upon its receipt at the head of every regiment, battalion, and company in the troops composing the army in the field. By command of Major-General Hunter: CHAS. G. HALPINE, *By direction of the President, upon the recommendation of his department commander, by whom he was orginally dismissed, and on the report of the JudgeAdvocate-General, the dismissal of Captain Auer was revoked, and he was honorably discharged to date March 6, 1865. (See Special Orders, No. 467, Adjutant-General's Office, August 30, 1865.) |