SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DIST. OF SOUTHWEST MISSOURI,

Numbers 27.
Springfield, Mo., January 28, 1865.

I. Lieutenant Colonel J. F. McMahan, Sixteenth Regiment Missouri Cavalry Volunteers, is hereby assigned to duty as commanding officer of the Post of Lebanon, Mo. He will assume command of the post without delay, and relieve Major R. K. Hart.

II. Major R. K. Hart, Sixteenth Regiment Missouri Cavalry Volunteers, upon being relieved from duty as commanding officer of the Post of Lebanon, Mo., will without delay assume command of the regiment.

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By order of Brigadier General John B. Sanborn:

WM. T. KITTREDGE,

Assistant Adjutant-General.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF SOUTHWEST MISSOURI,
Springfield, Mo., January 28, 1865.

Captain ANDERSON MORTON,

Commanding at Osceola, Mo.:

CAPTAIN: Your communication of the 23rd instant is received and contents noted. No application on the part of the citizens has been received here for any change at Osceola. If any is received it will not be acted upon until after a report from officers in that immediate vicinity. In answer to a letter from Colonel Phillips, I have informed him that you would continue to report to him; but in your conduct and management of affairs be governed by the general orders of this district. You will therefore report and be governed accordingly. If there are two or more parties in your section, avoid connection and favors to each, but arrest all guilty of crime and disorder without fear or favor. Inform me of the condition in your locality from time to time as circumstances may require.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

JOHN B. SANBORN,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF SOUTHWEST MISSOURI,
Springfield, Mo., January 28, 1865.

COMMANDING OFFICER LEBANON, MO.:

The general commanding directs me to say that the numerous complaints which reach these headquarters as to the conduct of the troops at your post reveal a state of demoralization and insubordination that calls for his severest censure. That this condition of affairs, so subversive of all discipline and good order, must be the result of neglect of his duties on the part of the commanding officer at that post, or of ignorance as to the nature and extent of those duties, only less culpable than willful neglect. The duties of a commanding officer are clearly defined in Army Regulations and existing orders. Prominent among these is the duty of enforcing and preserving discipline and good order, and a punctual and faithful compliance with existing orders on the part of the troops of his command. Within the limits of his command his authority in respect to this paramount duty of a commander is absolute and unquestioned. The fruitful source of all the disorders complained