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144 Series I Volume LI-II Serial 108 - Supplements Part II

Page 144 MD., E. N. C. PA., VA., EXCEPT S. W., & W. VA. Chapter LXIII.

GENERAL ORDERS,
DIVISION HEADQUARTERS, Numbers 25.
Yorktown, June 20, 1861.

I. The following assignment of posts is hereby made, viz: Yorktown, Colonel D. H. Hill, First North Carolina Regiment; Williamsburg, Colonel T. P. August, Fifteenth Virginia Volunteers; Gloucester Point, Colonel Charles A. Crump, Twenty-sixth Virginia Volunteers; Jamestown Island, Colonel J. G. Hodges, Fourteenth Regiment. The three first-named commanding officers will send to these headquarters a field return of the troops under their command as soon as possible. The field officers of Virginia Volunteers will be given by name. The commanding officers of these posts will make reports every three days of the progress of the defensive works under their command. The commanding officer at Jamestown Island will make a special report of the number and caliber of the guns mounted, the quantity and description of ammunition on hand, and the state of the defenses of the island generally.

II. Lieutenant-Colonel Ewell having been assigned to the special duty of erecting fortifications in the vicinity of Williamsburg in conjunction with Captain Rives, engineer, will continue the discharge of this duty, and will also command the Peninsula Guard, of whom he will make a special report, to be embraced in Colonel August's field returns.

III. Colonel August will cause the works at Grove's Landing, Spratley's farm, King's Mill, and Tutter's Neck to be prosecuted with the greatest vigor. Such additional works as Colonel Ewell may consider necessary after consulting with Captain Rives will be erected by the regiments under Colonel August and Lieutenant-Colonel Ewell. In addition to such other labor as he may be able to procure, Colonel Ewell will increase if possible, the number of hired laborers on the public works.

IV. Six wagons are assigned to Colonel Augusts' regiment and four to Colonel Ewell's. This distribution is made in consequence of the difference of distance from Williamsburg. The means of transportation being under the exclusive control of the commanding officer of the department, no wagons or other means of transportation shall be diverted from their proper destination without his authority.

V. In consequence of the inadequacy of the means of transportation, the following rule will be adopted and rigidly enforced, and it is made the duty of commanding officers personally to see that it is carried out; First. When troops move they will carry in their haversacks two days' provisions, one of which shall be cooked. When hard bread cannot be obtained the flour will be carried in wagons. Second. Cooking utensils to be carried in wagons, and to consist of the following articles and in the following quantities, viz, two mess-pans or frying-pans and two camp kettles to fifteen men. No tents will be carried when lumber can be procured to make huts, unless specially ordered. No trunks for officers-carpet-bags only. No chests of any kind, except for ammunition or medical supplies. No knapsacks, haversacks, clothing, or blankets will be carried in wagons.

VI. All leaves of absence to officers and furloughs to soldiers not exceeding sevend days will be signed by commanding officers of posts without reference to the officer commanding department. It is enjoined upon commanding officers of posts, colonels of regiments, and captains to be more stringent than has been their custom in granting leaves of absence and passes. Passes given by one commanding officer to citizens will be recognized by another unless for special reasons. It is expected that commanding officers will take every opportunity to have their


Page 144 MD., E. N. C. PA., VA., EXCEPT S. W., & W. VA. Chapter LXIII.