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882 Series I Volume XIV- Serial 20 - Secessionville

Page 882 COASTS OF S. C., GA., AND MID. AND EAST FLA. Chapter XXVI.

you will have an officer at that point to receive and locate the command and to give it such information as may be requisite.

The Savannah siege train has also been ordered to report here, and you will please designate the position for its batteries, say two or three, of four guns each.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

THOMAS JORDAN,

Chief of Staff.


HDQRS. DEPT. SOUTH CAROLINA, GEORGIA, AND FLORIDA,
Charleston, S. C., April 5, 1863.

Brigadier General R. S. RIPLEY,

Commanding First Military District:

GENERAL: There will be three mortars here from Savannah to-night, which the commanding general desires to be in position as soon as possible, to wit, one at battery this side of the new bridge; one at White Point Battery, and the other at Battery James. An officer should be detailed specially to see that no time is lost in getting these mortars in place after their arrival.

The Citadel Cadets will be ordered to take immediate charge of the new bridge battery.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

THOMAS JORDAN,

Chief of Staff.

GENERAL ORDERS, HDQRS. DEPT. OF S. C., GA., AND FLA., Numbers 53.
Charlotte, S. C., April 5, 1863.

I. Field and company officers are specially enjoined to instruct their men under all circumstances to fire with deliberation at the feet of the enemy; they will thus avoid overshooting, and besides wounded men give more trouble to our adversary than his dead, as they have to be taken from the field.

II. Officers in command must be cool and collected in action, hold their men in hand, and caution them against useless, aimless firing. The men must be instructed and required each one to single out his mark. It was the deliberate sharpshooting of our forefathers in the Revolution of 1776 and at New Orleans in 1815 which made them so formidable against the odds with which they were engaged.

III. In the beginning of a battle, except by troops deployed by skirmishers, the fire by file will be avoided; it excites the men and renders their subsequent control difficult; fire by wing or company should be resorted to to instead. During the batle the non-commissioned officers must keep the men in ranks, enforce obedience, and encourage and stimulate them if necessary.

IV. Soldiers must not be permitted to quit the ranks to strip or rob the dead, nor even to assist in removing our dead unless by special permission, which shall only be given when the action has been decided. The surest way to protect our wounded is to drive the enemy from the field; the most pressing, highest duty is to win the victory.

V. Before the battle the quartermaster of the division will make all the necessary arrangements for the immediate transportation of the


Page 882 COASTS OF S. C., GA., AND MID. AND EAST FLA. Chapter XXVI.