Today in History:

627 Series I Volume XLVII-III Serial 100 - Columbia Part III

Page 627 Chapter LIX. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. - UNION.

II. Bvt. Brigadier General Stewart L. Woodford is hereby assigned to duty according to his brevet rank, subject to the approval of the Presidnet, and will at once relieve Bvt. Major General C. Grover of the command of the post of Savannah. Pending the detached service to which Brevet Major-General Birge has been assigned, Brevet Brigadier-General Woodford will exercise command of the Dostrict of Savannah as above organized.

By command of Major General Q. A. Gillmore:

W. L. M. BURGER,

Assistant Adjutant-General.


HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH,
Hilton Head, S. C., June 5, 1865.

Brigadier General JOHN P. HATCH,

Commanding Northern District, Dept. of the South, Charleston, S. C.:

GENERAL: Under the provisions of General Orders, Numbers 82, the One hundred and fifty-seventh Regiment New York Volunteers and the One hundred and seventh Ohio Volunteers will be ordered into Charleston with the least possible delaly, preparatory to being mustered out of the service. I desire that the country south and east of the Santee and Wateree Rivers be at once organized into a separate district. If will not, however, be separated from your command, t least for the present. An officer possessing fine administrative capacity will be assigned to the command of it. Perhaps you can not do better than to take Brevet Brigadier-General Hartwell for that purpose. You will give him a fair proportion of the troops serving in South Carolina, under the supposition that the rest of the State shall be occupied and held by the balance. You will instruct him to station troops at all important towns, so that by reason of these posts and such patrols as he can establish he will be enabled to keep the whole country under military surveillance. You will also, as far as possible, establish similar posts and maintain a similar surveillance over that portion of the State lying south and west of the Santee and Wateree Rivers. the headquarters of the district north of the Santee will be for the present at Georgetown. When the railroads are in running order Florence will be perhaps a better place for headquarters. The One hundred and fifty-seventh New York Volunteers and the One hundred and seventh Ohio Volunteers are to be mustered out of the service, and perhaps the One hundred and twenty-seventh New York Volunteers also. It is presumed that supplies for the troops in the vicinity of Florence may be drawn from Wilmington, N. C. Please ascertain if such may be the case, and if so, make arragements accordingly. You will take military possession of the Norhteastern Railroad, Camden Railroad, the railroad from Charleston to Augusta, and the one from Branchville to Columbia, that portion of the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad lying in the State of South Carolina, and all other railroads in the State of South Carolina which in your judgment are required for military use. You will afford the railroad companies such military aid as in your judgment may be proper, leaving the immediate control of the several roads to the respective presidents and directions thereof, or such nemebers as are no excluded in the offer of amnesty as contained in the recent proclamation of President Johnson. Please report your action under these instructions.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Q. A. GILLMORE,

Major-General, Commanding.


Page 627 Chapter LIX. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC. - UNION.