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505 Series I Volume XLI-III Serial 85 - Price's Missouri Expedition Part III

Page 505 Chapter LIII. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC-UNION.

quartermaster at Little Rock, it being deemed inexpedient to send these horses to the cavalry depot. An excellent location has been selected for the cavalry depot two miles below Devall's Bluff on the White River; 1,200 dismounted men have been sent there and are comfortably encamped. The work of building recuperating stables is progressing very satisfactorily, the only impediment being a supply of lumber. One corral for 1,000 horses, well supplied with feed-troughs made of logs, has been built. Six hundred horses have been sent to this depot for recuperation. The quartermaster in charge has had 150 tons of prairie hay, of good quality, cut and stacked near the location for the stables. On the 22nd of August the chief of cavalry dispatched a quartermaster to Saint Louis especially to look after forage and the wants of the cavalry of this department generally. The wisdom of this policy is now manifested by a more generous supply of forage. Much gross neglect has been found to exist in a number of regiments on the part of commissioned officers to attend regular stable calls, and to give personal supervision of stable police. private soldiers have been left to feed and groom their horses at pleasure. The following correspondence will show the condition of stable management in the Ninth Kansas Cavalry, and the means which will be applied for the correction of such intolerable abuses in the whole command:


HEADQUARTERS CAVALRY DIVISION, SEVENTH ARMY CORPS,
Little Rock, Ark., September 29, 1864.

[Colonel C. S. CLARK:]

COLONEL: Inclosed you will find certified copy of the result of an inspection of your camp made this morning by the division inspector. As commanding officer you are responsible for the shameful condition of affairs, and how you can reconcile it with a proper sense of your obligations as a regimental commander I am at a loss to conceive. I certainly cannot do so, and take occasion once more and finally to call your attention to the necessity of remedying the evils complained of immediately. Should a subsequent inspection-and it will be made soon-disclose further inattention on your part, or that all the duties of officers and men in your command are not thoroughly and promptly performed, a recommendation for your summary dismissal from the service will be submitted to the department commander.

I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. R. WEST,

Brigadier-General, Commanding.

OFFICE ACTING ASSISTANT INSPECTOR-GENERAL,

Little Rock, September 29, 1864.

Brigadier General J. R. WEST,

Commanding Cavalry Division, Seventh Army Corps:

GENERAL: In obedience to your instructions, I have the honor to report that I visited the stables of the Ninth Kansas Cavalry this morning, arriving there at least half an hour after reveille. Not one commissioned officer was present at the stables. No stable call had been sounded. Most of the horses had been fed; many had not,and were restless and fretting for something to eat. Some of the horses were provided with feed boxes; the larger number had none. Upon inquiry of one of the men why all the horses had not been fed, his reply was that the men in charge of them had not got up, especially those under arrest. When I inquired of a private soldier present whether the officers were in the habit of attending stable calls he laughed at the idea. Such a thing seemed unknown. Others stated that officers did not attend stable call. men seem to feed and groom their horses when they are ready. The night having been quite rainy, and the stables consequently muddy, the horses unprovided with boxes were obliged to eat their grain in the mud, except where a soldier hitched his horse at one side where the ground was hard and comparatively dry. The horses in Company D were better provided with feed boxes than any other squadron. No provision is made for draining or for preventing the water running into the stables where the ground is descending toward them.

I have the honor to be, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

M. HAZEN WHITE,

Major Fourth Arkansas Cavalry and Acting Assistant Inspector-General.


Page 505 Chapter LIII. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC-UNION.