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October, 1861 AD (search for this): chapter 20
. General Sherman might have seen much the same situation near Washington even in ‘62 and ‘63. Every company in a regiment located in the defences of the capital city had one or more large cook-stoves with other appointments to match, and when they moved only a few miles they took all their lares and penates with them. This could then be done without detriment to the service. It was only when they attempted to carry everything along in active campaigning that trouble ensued. In October, 1861, McClellan issued an order which contained the following provisions:-- 1. No soldiers shall ride in loaded baggage-wagons under any circumstances, nor in empty wagons unless by special instructions to that effect. 2. Knapsacks shall not be carried in the wagons except on the written recommendation of the surgeon, which shall be given in case of sickness. 3. Tent-floors shall not be transported in public wagons, and hereafter no lumber shall be issued for tent-floors except upon
d responsibility of the campaign centred in themselves. An additional feature of animation was presented by the columns of infantry from the other corps, which alternated in the landscape with the lines of wagons, winding along into camp tired and footsore, but without apparent concern. I do not now remember any other time in my experience when so large a portion of the materiel and personnel of the army could have been covered by a single glance as I saw in the gathering twilight of that October afternoon. The system of designating the troops by corps badges was extended to the transportation, and every wagon was marked on the side of the canvas covering with the corps badge, perhaps eighteen inches in diameter, and of the appropriate color to designate the division to which it belonged. In addition to this, the number of its division, brigade, and the nature of its contents, whether rations, forage, clothing, or ammunition,--and, if the latter, the kind, whether artillery or
August 21st, 1863 AD (search for this): chapter 20
toon bridge. From a Photograph. respective trains, each in turn having his division and brigade quartermasters, subject to his orders. There never was a corps better organized than was the quartermaster's corps with the Army of the Potomac in 1864, says Grant in his Memoirs. Let us see a little more clearly what a corps train included. I can do no better than to incorporate here the following order of General Meade:-- General Orders, no. 83. Headquarters, Army of the Potomac. August 21, 1863. In order that the amount of transportation in this Army shall not in any instance exceed the maximum allowance prescribed in General Order, No. 274, of August 7, 1863, from the War Department, and to further modify and reduce baggage and supply trains, heretofore authorized, the following allowances are established and will be strictly conformed to, viz.: 1. The following is the maximum amount of transportation to be allowed to this Army in the field: To the Headquarters of an
superseded the stoves, and many other comfortable but unnecessary furnishings disappeared from the baggage. Not how little but how much could be dispensed with then became the question of the hour. The trains must be reduced in size, and they must be moved in a manner not to hamper the troops, if possible; but the war was more than half finished before they were brought into a satisfactory system of operation. The greater number of the three-years regiments that arrived in Washington in 1861 brought no transportation of any kind. After McClellan assumed command, a depot of transportation was established at Perryville on the Susquehanna; by this is meant a station where wagons and ambulances were kept, and from which they were supplied. From there Captain Sawtell, now colonel and brevet brigadier general U. S. A., fitted out regiments as rapidly as he could, giving each six wagons instead of twenty-five, one of which was for medical supplies. Some regiments, however, by infl
August 10th, 1862 AD (search for this): chapter 20
h the deepest mud-holes was likely to come out ahead. The verdancy which remained after the first fall of the Union army at Bull Run was to be utterly overshadowed by the baptism of woe which was to follow in the Peninsular Campaign; and on arriving at Harrison's Landing, on the James, McClellan issued the following order, which paved the way for better things:-- Allowance of transportation, tents, and baggage. Headquarters, Army of the Potomac. Camp near Harrison's Landing, Va., August 10, 1862. General Orders, No. 153. I. The following allowance of wagons is authorized: For the Headquarters of an Army CorpsFour For the Headquarters of a Division or BrigadeThree For a Battery of Light Artillery, or Squadron of CavalryThree For a full regiment of InfantrySix This allowance will in no case be exceeded, but will be reduced to correspond as nearly as practicable with the number of officers and men actually present. All means of transportation in excess of the pr
s, provisions, clothing, fuel, storage, and transportation for an army. The chief officer in the quartermaster's department is known as the quartermastergeneral. There was a chief quartermaster of the army, and a chief quartermaster to each corps and division; then, there were brigade and regimental quartermasters, and finally the quartermaster-sergeants, all attending in their appropriate spheres to the special duties of this department. During the march of the army up the Peninsula in 1862, the fighting force advanced by brigades, each of which was followed by its long columns of transportation. But this plan was very unsatisfactory, for thereby the army was extended along forest paths over an immense extent of country, and great delays and difficulties ensued in keeping the column closed up; for such was the nature of the roads that after the first few wagons had passed over them they were rendered impassable in places for those behind. At least a quarter of each regiment wa
er, which when closely drawn in front and rear, as it always was on the march, made quite a satisfactory close carriage. As a pleasure carriage, however, they were not considered a success. When the Third Corps was wintering at Brandy Station in 1863-4 the concert troupe, which my company boasted was engaged to give a week of evening entertainments not far from Culpeper, in a large hexagonal stockade, which would seat six or seven hundred persons, and which had been erected for the purpose bye or division train would have been a valuable auxiliary for starting or halting the trains, or for regulating the camp duties as in artillery and cavalry. It seems strange that so commendable a proposition was not thought of at the time. In 1863, while the army was lying at Belle Plain after the memorable Mud March, large numbers of colored refugees came into camp. Every day saw some old cart or antiquated wagon, the relic of better days in the Old Dominion, unloading its freight of cont
ngent wants, and of camp and garrison equipage, will remain as established by circular, dated July 17, 1863. 2. For each full regiment of infantry and cavalry, of 1000 men, for baggage, camp equipage, &c., 6 wagons. For each regiment of infantry less than 700 men and more than 500 men, 5 wagons. For each regiment of infanFor each battery, to carry its proportion of subsistence, forage, &c., 2 wagons. 4. The supply train for forage, subsistence, quartermaster's stores, &c., to each 1000 men, cavalry and infantry, 7 wagons. To every 1000 men, cavalry and infantry, for small arm ammunition, 5 wagons. To each 1500 men, cavalry and infantry, f1000 men, cavalry and infantry, for small arm ammunition, 5 wagons. To each 1500 men, cavalry and infantry, for hospital supplies, 3 wagons. To each Army Corps, except the Cavalry, for entrenching tools, &c., 6 wagons. To each Corps Headquarters for the carrying of subsistence, forage and other stores not provided for herein, 3 wagons. To each Division Headquarters for similar purpose as above, 2 wagons. To each Brigade H
they were not considered a success. When the Third Corps was wintering at Brandy Station in 1863-4 the concert troupe, which my company boasted was engaged to give a week of evening entertainmentsr was a corps better organized than was the quartermaster's corps with the Army of the Potomac in 1864, says Grant in his Memoirs. Let us see a little more clearly what a corps train included. I was put to a severer test. For example, when the Army of the Potomac went into the Wilderness in 1864, each wagon was required to carry five days forage for its animals (600 pounds), and if its other as trainguard for the transportation of the Army of the Potomac from the Rapidan to the James in 1864. When ammunition was wanted by a battery or a regiment in the line of battle, a wagon was senhich will well illustrate the trials of a train quartermaster. At the opening of the campaign in 1864, Wilson's cavalry division joined the Army of the Potomac. Captain Ludington (now lieutenantcolo-
August 7th, 1863 AD (search for this): chapter 20
anized than was the quartermaster's corps with the Army of the Potomac in 1864, says Grant in his Memoirs. Let us see a little more clearly what a corps train included. I can do no better than to incorporate here the following order of General Meade:-- General Orders, no. 83. Headquarters, Army of the Potomac. August 21, 1863. In order that the amount of transportation in this Army shall not in any instance exceed the maximum allowance prescribed in General Order, No. 274, of August 7, 1863, from the War Department, and to further modify and reduce baggage and supply trains, heretofore authorized, the following allowances are established and will be strictly conformed to, viz.: 1. The following is the maximum amount of transportation to be allowed to this Army in the field: To the Headquarters of an Army Corps, 2 wagons or 8 pack mules. To the Headquarters of a Division or Brigade, 1 wagon or 5 pack mules. To every three company officers, when detached or servi
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