Today in History:

174 Series I Volume XLVII-I Serial 98 - Columbia Part I

Page 174 OPERATIONS IN N. C., S. C., S. GA., AND E. FLA. Chapter LIX.

ured, but it was not so great. In corduroying, the entire available force of the army was used-engineers, pioneers, and infantry. The pontooning was all done by engineer troops, according to the organization already given, and the building of trestle bridges by engineers and pioneers. Surveys have been made of the entire line of march of each army corps as well as the route pursued by the headquarters military division. The latter was as good a survey as could be made with odometer and prismatic compass, and was under charge of Captain H. A. Ulffers, assistant adjutant-general volunteers, on engineer duty. In addition to the officers already named as on engineer duty, the following, belonging to the Coast Survey, were courteously placed under my orders by Mr. J. E. Hilgard, in charge of that work, viz: Messrs. Cleveland Rockwell, F. W. Dorr, W. Harding, and F. Platt. Owing to the rapidity of the march there was but little opportunity for the finer class of surveying which these gentlemen were capable of doing. They made plane table surveys of Pocotaligo and Goldsborough, and were always ready to avail themselves of any chance that offered itself to make themselves useful. My thanks are due and freely tendered them. A map* upon a scale of 1. 350000, illustrating the march from Savannah to Goldsborough, is finished and a copy is now being made. The original will be transmitted to the Engineer Bureau as soon as this is done.

In closing this section of this report, I desire to bear testimony to the good conduct and efficiency of the individuals composing the engineer organization, and above all my thanks are due to Colonel Reese. It is impossible in a paper like this to give an adequate idea of the value of his services. The hearty support he gave me in all these long campaigns will never be forgotten, and it affords me great pleasure to know of its recognition by the Government in the grade of brigadier-general by brevet.

Fourth. The campaign from Goldsborough, N. C., to Raleigh, N. C., and the march from Raleigh to Washington City, from April 10, 1865, to 20th of May, 1865.

Upon our arrival at Goldsborough our attention was devoted to refitting the army for a new campaign. The grand army was reorganized so that it consisted of three divisions of two army corps each, viz: The Army of the Tennessee, of the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps, being the Right Wing; the Army of the Ohio, Department of North Carolina, of the Tenth and Twenty-third Corps, being the Center, and the Army of Georgia, of the Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps, being the Left Wing. The engineer organization to correspond with this was:

First. Staff: O. M. Poe, captain Engineers, brevet colonel, U. S. Army, chief engineer Military Division of the Mississippi; C. B. Reese, captain Engineers, brevet colonel, U. S. Army, chief engineer Department and Army of the Tennessee; W. J. Twining, captain Engineers, brevet lieutenant-colonel, U. S. Army, chief engineer Department of North Carolina; W. Ludlow, first lieutenant Engineers, brevet major, U. S. Army, assistant to chief engineer Military Division of the Mississippi; A. Stickney, first lieutenant Engineers, brevet captain, U. S. Army, assistant to Colonel Reese; A. N. Damrell, first lieutenant Engineers, U. S. Army, assistant to Lieutenant-Colonel Twining.

Second. Engineer troops and troops of the line on engineer duty: First Regiment Michigan Engineers and Mechanics, Colonel J. B. Yates

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*Embodied in Plate CXVII of the Atlas. The original is on file in the office of the Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army.

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Page 174 OPERATIONS IN N. C., S. C., S. GA., AND E. FLA. Chapter LIX.