SPECIAL FIELD ORDERS
No. 120.}
HDQRS. MIL. DIV. OF THE
MISS.,
In the Field,
Kingston, Ga.,
November 9, 1864.
I. For the purpose of military operations this army is
divided into two wings, viz, the Right Wing, Maj. Gen. O. O. Howard commanding,
the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps; the Left Wing, Maj. Gen. H. W. Slocum
commanding, the Fourteenth and Twentieth Corps.
II. The habitual order of march will be, wherever
practicable, by four roads, as near parallel as possible and converging at
points hereafter to be indicated in orders. The cavalry, Brigadier-General
Kilpatrick commanding, will receive special orders from the commander-in-chief.
III. There will be no general train of supplies, but each
corps will have its ammunition train and provision train distributed habitually
as follows: Behind each regiment should follow one wagon and one ambulance;
behind each brigade should follow a due proportion of ammunition wagons,
provision wagons, and ambulances. In case of danger each army corps commander
should change this order of march by having his advance and rear brigade
unincumbered by wheels. The separate columns will start habitually at 7 a.m.,
and make about fifteen miles per day, unless otherwise fixed in orders.
IV. The army will forage liberally on the country during the
march. To this end, each brigade commander will organize a good and sufficient
foraging party, under the command of one or more discreet officers, who will
gather, near the route traveled, corn or forage of any kind, meat of any kind,
vegetables, corn-meal, or whatever is needed by the command, aiming at all
times to keep in the wagons at least ten days' provisions for the command and
three days' forage. Soldiers must not enter the dwellings of the inhabitants,
or commit any trespass, but during a halt or a camp they may be permitted to
gather turnips, potatoes, and other vegetables, and to drive in stock in sight
of their camp. To regular foraging parties must be intrusted the gathering of
provisions and forage at any distance from the road traveled.
V. To army corps commanders alone is intrusted the power to
destroy mills, houses, cotton-gins, &c., and for them this general
principle is laid down: In districts and neighborhoods where the army is
unmolested no destruction of such property should be permitted; but should
guerrillas or bushwhackers molest our march, or should the inhabitants burn
bridges, obstruct roads, or otherwise manifest local hostility, then army
commanders should order and enforce a devastation more or less relentless
according to the measure of such hostility.
VI. As for horses, mules, wagons, &c., belonging to the
inhabitants, the cavalry and artillery may appropriate freely and without
limit, discriminating, however, between the rich, who are usually hostile, and
the poor or industrious, usually neutral or friendly. Foraging parties may also take mules or horses to replace the
jaded animals of their trains, or to serve as pack-mules for the regiments or
brigades. In all foraging, of whatever kind, the parties engaged will refrain
from abusive or threatening language, and may, where the officer in command
thinks proper, give written certificates of the facts, but no receipts, and
they will endeavor to leave with each family a reasonable portion for their
maintenance.
VII. Negroes who are able-bodied and can be of service to
the several columns may be taken along, but each army commander will bear in
mind that the question of supplies is a very important one and that his first
duty is to see to them who bear arms.
VIII. The organization at once of a good pioneer battalion
for each army corps, composed if possible of negroes, should be attended to.
This battalion should follow the advance guard, should repair roads, and double
them if possible, so that the columns will not be delayed after reaching bad
places. Also, army commanders should study the habit of giving the artillery
and wagons the road, and marching their troops on one side, and also instruct
their troops to assist wagons at steep hills or bad crossings of streams.
IX. Capt. O. M. Poe, chief engineer, will assign to each
wing of the army a pontoon train, fully equipped and organized, and the
commanders thereof will see to its being properly protected at all times.
By order of Maj. Gen. W. T. Sherman:
L. M. DAYTON,
Aid-de-Camp.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
39, Part 3 (Serial No. 79), p. 713-4
