over to Colonel Gibson, Second Ohio Heavy Artillery, who is charged with guarding the railroad from Athens, Tenn., to Strawberry Plains, Tenn. FORT GAINES, March 15, 1865-4.30 p. m. Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK, Chief of Staff: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your telegram of the 4th [9th] instant in relation to the rebel navy and anticipated depredations on the Mississippi. Preparations indicating some designs of this character were discovered about the middle of last month, and commanders of posts and naval districts on the river were at once put on their guard. Admiral Lee's general order of February 28 (No. 47) is intended to meet this contingency. E. R. S. CANBY, HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF WEST MISSISSIPPI, Lieut. Col. C. T. CHRISTENSEN, Asst. Adjt. Gen., Military Division of West Mississippi: COLONEL: I have the honor to submit to your consideration the following report of information received at this office this 15th day of March, 1865: In Selma there is one arsenal, one naval ordnance works, ten iron foundries, eight machine-shops, one shovel factory, one card factory for carding cotton, two wagon factories, and one horseshoe factory. There is also a large rolling-mill in operation. Selma is the depot for all the iron and coal that is distributed through Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, the coal and iron mines being only forty five miles above, on the Alabama and Tennessee Railroad, at Montevallo. The stage road to Montgomery from Selma is fifty-eight miles, and is good. There are three bridges on it of a very primitive style. The railroad from Selma to Demopolis, sixty miles distant, is in good order; from Demopolis to Meridian it is very bad, scarcely fit to travel on. The city of Selma is fortified on three sides with palisades. Fortifications-they are not worth much, for about a mile west of the city is a hill, which an invading force could hold and command the city. There are not 200 troops in the city, as they expect the citizens to defend the city in case of an attack. There are seven or eight iron furnaces in Bibb County from forty to seventy miles above Selma, on the Tennessee Railroad. Some of them are from three to ten miles distant from the road. The distance from Selma to Mobile by river is about 365 miles; there are no batteries on the river. There were fortifications on Choctaw Bluff, but the guns have been taken away and the place is now dismantled. The distance to Cahawba from Selma by the wagon road is ten miles, and is very bad. There were 700 Union prisoners confined there; they were well treated. The distance to the same place by river is thirty miles. There is at Selma a large powder mill. It has been in operation about five months, and turns out a large quantity of powder. It is now the only one, besides the one in Augusta, Ga. There are no fortifications in or around Montgomery. All the mortars in the possession of the rebels at Mobile have been organized into a siege train, mounted two on wagon, drawn by mules. They are fifteen in number, and 10-inch caliber. They can be moved readily, so that their fire can be readily concentrated on any particular point. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, GENERAL FIELD ORDERS, A. M. JACKSON, Major, Tenth U. S. Colored Heavy Artillery. HEADQUARTERS ARMY AND DIVISION March 15, 1865. Bvt. Brig. Gen. C. B. Comstock, U. S. Army, having reported to these headquarters, in obedience to Special Orders, No. 41, from the Headquarters of the Armies of the United States, is assigned to special duty on the staff of the major-general commanding, and any orders or instructions communicated by him will be obeyed and respected. By order of Maj. Gen. E. R. S. Canby: SPECIAL FIELD ORDERS, * C. T. CHRISTENSEN, Lieutenant-Colonel and Assistant Adjutant-General. HEADQUARTERS ARMY AND DIVISION 7. Brig. Gen. J. Bailey, U. S. Volunteers, is hereby assigned to the command of the Engineer Brigade consisting of the Ninety-sixth and Ninety-seventh Regiments U. S. Colored Infantry, and the independent company of pontoniers. He will report direct to these headquarters. 13. Capt. B. Wilson, assistant adjutant-general of volunteers, is hereby relieved from duty with the Thirteenth Army Corps, and assigned to duty as assistant adjutant-general of the Third Division, Sixteenth Army Corps. He will report accordingly without delay. 14. The company of Engineers and Mechanics now on duty in the Department of the Gulf under the direction of the chief engineer of that department will report immediately to Brig. Gen. J. Bailey, commanding Engineer Brigade, at Mobile Point, Ala. The quartermaster's department will furnish the necessary transportation. By order of Maj. Gen. E. R. S. Canby: C. T. CHRISTENSEN, Lieutenant-Colonel and Assistant Adjutant-General. GENERAL FIELD ORDERS, HDQRS. THIRTEENTH ARMY CORPS, March 15, 1865. No. 1. I. The engineer of a division or detached brigade will habitually march at the head of its most advanced detachment with his assistant. Invariably there will be kept a journal of march of the form prescribed in Army Regulations, edition 1863, page 99, et seq., except that the column headed "Weather" will be headed "Bearings," and will contain the magnetic bearings of consecutive portions of the road, and that the column of distances will be kept in yards instead of miles. A convenient scale is five minutes between two consecutive lines of ruled letter paper, which corresponds to about 430 yards passed over by infantry. This journal will contain all the data for a map of the road and its vicinity, so clear as to be intelligible to others besides the maker and to admit of being platted by them. The remarks will contain all important military information which can be more readily noted in writing than in drawing. The more important topographical features are: First, roads; second, water courses; third, means of crossing water-courses; fourth, differences of level; fifth, woods, and sixth, towns. 1. Roads.-State their kind, as shell, plank, corduroy, soil, &c.; their condition, as muddy, miry, sandy, dusty, &c.; average width, whether flush with the ground, or contracted in a cutting or an embankment or between woods or marshes, &c.; whether there are cross-roads connecting them, the character of the bordering ground, and, if cultivated, with what crops, the nearest principal places on both sides of the road on the cross and branch roads; if lined with fences, hedges, ditches, levees, &c.; sharp turns; bad places needing repairs when left and what sort, &c. 2. Water-courses.-State their width, depth, and velocity at present stage of water, at low water, and at high water; whether subject to sudden rises, character of bottom, hard, soft, quicksand, &c.; nature of banks, steep or gentle slope, level or broken ground, grassy, wooded; tidal or not; fit to drink or not; any islands. 3. Means of crossing water-courses.-Fixed bridges, floating bridges, ferries, and boats, fords. Necessity for repairs and fitness for passage of the three arms when left. Nature of approaches, as hilly or level, broken or smooth, wooded or open, concave or convex, which bank commands the other and how much, &c.; how best destroyed or replaced; best positions for new ones and material for constructing them; how to be fortified, defended, or attacked. If a bridge, its length, width, and height above surface of water; nature, as piled, stone, brick, or wood arches, trusses, trestles, &c.; dimensions of piers, width and number of bays, span, rise, and thickness of arches, &c. For floating bridges, boats, or ferries, time of passage and capacity of transportation for one trip, for each arm, separately or mixed; how and to what extent this allows of being increased and means available for this. For fords, the form and nature of the bauks at each end, nature of bottom, marks and directions to determine the path, greatest depth of water and where situated; whether others exist and where; whether they are likely to become suddenly impassable. 4. Differences of level.-Highest and lowest points in slopes in road, with approximate difference. Eminences in sight on either side of road within cannon range, with approximate height above nearest point of road. Slopes requiring drag chains to descend or increasing teams to ascend; commanding point on banks for covering or forcing passage of streams; advantageous positions for batteries, cuttings, embankments, marshes, prairies, &c. 5. Woods.-Kinds of trees, free from underbrush, traversable for artillery, cavalry, or infantry, distance from the road; whether they can be skirted; are there houses within clearings; if so, how large; is the ground level, broken, marshy, cut with ravines or streams, &c.; nature of ground around the woods, &c. To reconnoiter a forest thoroughly it is necessary to make its circuit, to examine the roads, streams, and ravines which leave it, and learn where they come from and where they go. 6. Towns.-The principal ones in the vicinity, and on the roads crossed or passed; their distances, character, resources, &c. Especially must be noticed all military positions favorable for protecting an advance or covering a retreat. The division engineer should call attention to the brigade, and if possible of the division, commander to these and obtain his views of the advantages offered by them. Whenever names of localities can be obtained, such as houses, mills, crossroads, &c., they should be given always on the map. When the ordinary pronunciation is different from the spelling, the familiar pronunciation should be given in the remarks. All prominent landmarks should be given with such description as will identify them, as cottongin house, with red door; steam saw-mill, with tall smoke pipe; white frame house, &c. II. Under all circumstances these notes must be platted at the end of the march and the same day by the assistant on a scale of two inches to a mile, or four squares of cross-section paper to a mile when that is used. All the above information possible will be given by topographical signs. Levels will be given in feet and inclosed in brackets, as [15]. Levels below zero will be preceded by the minus sign, as [5]. Other information so far as possible will be written concisely at the locality it belongs to. All other information that can be will be written in one corner of the map, with numbers of references between it and the localities it refers to. The rest of the information required will be forwarded in a clear, concise memoir, written on letter paper in a definite, exact, condensed style. Three copies of map and memoir will be made, all of which must be signed by division engineer. One of each will be retained by him and two sent that day to the corps engineer, one of them to be forwarded by him to the chief engineer of the army, or his chief topographer, and the other retained. Immediately on getting into camp the division engineer will accompany the commander of his division in his examination of his front, if he makes one immediately; if not, the brigade officer posting pickets, and give all necessary instructions for strengthening and intrenching the front of his division, as required by General Field Orders, No. 1, headquarters Army and Division of West Mississippi. After this he will examine the communications between different parts of his division, and between his division and the one which preceded it on the march, and make the necessary arrangements for perfecting these. He will make a concise report in writing to the corps engineer of what he has done, with such rough sketch as may be necessary to explain this. When absent from division headquarters he will leave such information of the duty and locality he is attending to as will enable him to be readily found. When the same camp is occupied two days, the disposition of troops by regiments and batteries will be located by the division engineer and duplicate maps sent as promptly as possible to the corps engineer. When on the march the pioneer company needs attention apart from the head of the column, either the division engineer or his assistant will remain with it, but not both. The other will go on and keep the notes as above. When necessary, mounted orderlies and escorts will be assigned to division engineers to assist them in obtaining the information herein specified, or to carry out these provisions. Commissioned officers may also be ordered to report to them for temporary duty as assistants. III. Always on approaching a village the division engineer, with an order from the provost-marshal-general, if possible, will search all taverns, groceries, stage offices, &c., and seize all maps, surveys, plats, charts, voting, tax, or enrollment lists, and books, papers, and records that can afford useful information about the topography of the country or its resources. If these are claimed as private property he will give receipts for them, stating that they are seized for use of U. S. forces in accordance with this order. They will be forwarded at once with a catalogue to the corps engineer. The division engineer will receive orders from the commander of his division, from the corps engineer, and from the chief engineer of the army. He will apply to the corps engineer for information he may need on engineering subjects. He will be held accountable that the above instructions are strictly adhered to and promptly fulfilled, and that he and his assistant are at all times provided with the necessary instruments and materials for this purpose. The attention of all commanders of troops, especially of detachments, scouts, pickets, and convoys of staff officers, especially acting engineers and of topographers, is called to the following instructions: The information obtained should be embodied in concise, clear memoirs, forwarded promptly to corps headquarters through regular channels, to be referred to the chiefs of staff departments concerned. Every means should be employed to obtain miscellaneous information valuable to the army, and all inhabitants within reach should be freely questioned, conciliated if possible, and threatened and constrained if necessary. As a general rule pilots and officers of boats are the best authorities; professional men and planters about presence, numbers, and motions of troops, plans and opinions of enemy and resources of all sorts of the country. These resources depend principally upon number of houses, together or isolated, population (which may be roughly estimated at ten times the voters), num. ber of men and horses there is shelter for, mills, powder houses, saltpeter-works, salt-works, workmen, as smiths, wheelwrights, shoers, carpenters, tailors, shoemakers, saddlers; contributions in money which could be raised for institutions and individuals, with their names and directions; also stores, public and private; of forage, as hay, oats, corn, beans; of food, as beef, calves, sheep, pigs, flour, meal, sugar, rice, and all commissary stores; transportation, as carts, harness, boats, oxen, horses, mules; fuel, whisky, cloth, leather, iron, wood, and everything useful in the commissary, quartermaster's, and ordnance departments stored within reach; what could be destroyed and what brought in. Approximate estimates of crops, as a check on information, may be made by observing the relative proportion of cultivated and uncultivated lands and the average yield per acre, by consulting tax-lists and by learning products by mills, gins, &c. Constant attention should be paid to discovering and securing suitable and competent persons for guides. Above all, established and reliable information should be carefully distinguished from what is only conjectural or doubtful, as all things not delivered with certainty rather perplex than form the judgment. Officers intrusted with collecting and transmitting this information should remember that they are performing one of the highest functions of the service, that they lead and guide every step of the army, and that its success and safety depends on their faithfulness, intelligence, and candor. By order of Major-General Granger: F. W. EMERY, Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General. |