Headquarters army of the Potomac,
Washington, September 30, 1861.
General Order No. 18.
I. The attention of the division and brigade commanders is called to the requirements of
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General Orders No. 2, from the Headquarters of the division of the Potomac, of July 30, 1861, which have of late been to a certain extent disregarded.
No officer or soldier can absent himself from his camp and visit
Washington except for the performance of some public duty, or for the transaction of important private business, for which purposes written permits will be given by brigade commanders.
The permit will state the object of the visit.
The number of passes granted at present is far too great.
Brigade commanders will hereafter limit their approvals to those permits which are clearly within the restrictions of the order.
Brigade commanders will observe that they can only give passes to the troops, or to other persons connected with the army.
They are prohibited giving passes to citizens having no connection with the troops.
II.
The publication of orders is neglected in certain portions of this army.
It is directed that henceforth every
general order be read at the head of each regiment.
Division and brigade commanders will see that the printed orders sent to them are distributed without delay.
Care will be also taken at division and brigade Headquarters to furnish copies of special orders, received from these or other superior Headquarters, to the individuals concerned, through their immediate commanders, as soon as practicable.
Orders for any body of troops will be addressed to the commander, and will be opened and executed by the commander present, and published or distributed by him when necessary.
III.
Division and brigade commanders will report weekly, through the chief ordnance officer, at these Headquarters, the amount of ammunition on hand in their commands, and the amount in the cartridge boxes of the troops.
IV.
The light batteries assigned to each division of this army will be commanded by the senior battery officer present with them, who will report directly to the division commander.
The divisional batteries will not be assigned to brigades, except for temporary service.
V. The armament of the field-batteries having been fixed by the
Chief of Artillery, will not be altered, even in the slightest respect, except by his permission and order.
VI.
The commander of every field-battery will send to the office of the
Chief of Artillery, on the 1st and 15th of each month, a return of his battery, of the same form as usual.
VII.
Whenever a field-battery is engaged with the enemy, a full report of the same in writing will be made, with as little delay as possible, by the battery commander to the
Chief of Artillery, stating in detail, beside the ordinary matters of such reports, the loss or damage of materiel, as well as personnel.
VIII.
All requisitions for ordnance and. ordnance stores for the field-batteries will be made direct to the
Chief of Artillery.
IX.
Hereafter all subsistence stores condemned by a board of survey, or by other competent authority with this command, will be turned into the principal depot of supplies nearest the point of such condemned stores, to be disposed of by the depot commissary according to army regulations and orders on the subject.
A copy of the proceedings of the Board of Survey, or inspection report, will be furnished the commissary receiving the condemned stores.
X. Payment for the rations saved by companies, as directed in
General Orders No. 82, September 23, 1861, from the War Department, will be made only by the officers or agents in charge of the principal subsistence depots within this command.
XI.
The works in the vicinity of
Washington are named as follows:
The work south of
Hunting Creek, “
Fort Lyon.”
That on
Shuter's Hill, “
Fort Ellsworth.”
That to the left of the
Seminary, “Fort worth.”
That in front of
Blenker's brigade, “Fort Blenker.”
That in front of Lee's house, “
Fort Ward.”
That near the mouth of
Four Mile Creek, “
Fort Scott.”
That on Richardson's Hill, “
Fort Richardson.”
That now known as
Fort Albany, “
Fort Albany.”
That near the end of the
Long Bridge, “Fort Runyon.”
The work next on the right of
Fort Albany, “
Fort Craig.”
The work next on the right of
Fort Craig, “Fort Tillinghast.”
The work next on the right of Fort Tilling-hast, “Fort Ramsay.”
The work next on the right of Fort Ramsay, “Fort Woodbury.”
That next on the right of Fort Woodbury, “Fort De Kalb.”
The work in the rear of Fort Corcoran and near the canal, “Fort Haggerty.”
That now known as Fort Corcoran, “Fort Corcoran.”
That to the north of Fort Corcoran, “Fort Bennett.”
That south of Chain Bridge on the height, “Fort Ethan Allen.”
That near the
Chain Bridge, on the
Leesburg road, “Fort Marcy.”
That on the cliff north of the
Chain Bridge, “Battery Martin Scott.”
That on the height near the reservoir, “Battery Vermont.”
That near
Georgetown, “Battery Cameron.”
That on the left of
Tennallytown, “
Fort Gaines.”
That at
Tennallytown, “Fort
Pennsylvania.”
That at
Emory's chapel, “Fort Massachusetts.”
That near the camp of the Second Rhode Island regiment, “Fort Slocum.”
That on
Prospect Hill, near
Bladensburg, “
Fort Lincoln.”
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That next on the left of
Fort Lincoln, “Fort Saratoga.”
That next on the left of Fort Saratoga, “Fort Bunker Hill.”
That on the right of
General Sickles's camp, “
Fort Stanton.”
That on the right of
Fort Stanton, “
Fort Carroll.”
That on the left towards
Bladensburg, “Fort Greble.”
