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312 Series I Volume XXIV-III Serial 38 - Vicksburg Part III

Page 312 Mississippi, WEST TENNESSEE, ETC. Chapter XXXVI.

JACKSON, MISS., May 14, 1863

Major General WILLIAM T. SHERIDAN, Comdg. Fifteenth Army Corps:

Designate a brigade from your command to guard the city. Collect stores and forage, and collect all public property of the enemy. The DIVISION from which such brigade may be selected will be the last to leave the city. You will direct them, therefore, to commence immediately the effectual destruction of the river railroad bridge and the road as far east as practicable, as well as north and south. The Fourth Iowa Cavalry and a brigade of infantry should be sent east of the river, with instructions for the cavalry to go on east as far as possible.

Troops going east of the river should burn all C. S. A. cotton and stores they find.

U. S. GRANT,


SPECIAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. Fifteenth ARMY CORPS, Numbers 105.
Jackson, MISS., May 14, 1863The SECOND Brigade, THIRD DIVISION, Brigadier General J. A. Mower commanding, will constitute the garrison of the post of Jackson, MISS. General Mower will report to the commanding general for specific instructions. General Mower will detail a provost-marshall for the post, and all prisoners of war will b sent to him, at the State-house.

The First and THIRD DIVISIONS of this corps will proceed, early to-morrow morning, to destroy the railroads leading from this post, the First DIVISION taking the roads running to the east and south, and the THIRD DIVISION those to the north and west. The destruction of the roads will be extended out as far as possible, and must be complete. The rails and ties will be taken up and placed in stacks, and the ties set on fire, in order to warp the rails and so render them unfit for use. Dispatch is of the utmost importance.

By order of Major General W. T. Sherman:

R. M. SAWYER,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

JACKSON, MISS., May 14, 1863.,

Colonel WRIGHT, Comdg. Sixth Missouri Cavalry, Clinton, MISS:

COLONEL: Keep your headquarters at Clinton. Thoroughly explore all the roads north and WEST from the town toward Bolton. The enemy retreated from this place on roads leading north, probably to concentrate at some point west. Learn of their movements on your front and right flanks, and report. Be prompt and earnest.

By order of Major-General McPherson:

[WM. T. CLARK]

Assistant Adjutant-General.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. SEVENTEENTH ARMY CORPS, Numbers 18.
Jackson, MISS., May 14, 1863.

Soldiers of the SEVENTEENTH Army Corps! Your general congratulates you on your noble endurance and heroic bravery. Your long and tedious marches, through dust and heat, borne without a murmur; your unflinching courage and victorious onset at Port Gibson, Raymond, and Jackson, driving the enemy at every point, prove you worthy your noble ancestry, and have made you heroes in American history. Your


Page 312 Mississippi, WEST TENNESSEE, ETC. Chapter XXXVI.