[Civil War]

[Group of General Orders from the Military Division of West Mississippi, Covering the End of the Civil War]

Natchez & New Orleans: 1864-1865. Eighty-seven & sixty-three orders for each year, respectively. Lacking five for 1864 (1, 2, 70, 72, 90) and three for 1865 (27, 41, 44). Contemporarily stitched with ribbon. Minor soiling and wear to outer leaves. A few orders with manuscript signatures. Very good. Item #3408

Extensive run of General Orders for the Military Division of West Mississippi, encompassing two full years of its existence. The Division was organized in October 1863 and dissolved in August 1866, making this run the heart of the time that the Division was operational. It was overseen by General Grant and then by General Sherman, and encompassed the Departments of Ohio, Tennessee, the Cumberland, Missouri, and Arkansas; in 1866 it also absorbed the Department of the Platte. The orders here run from May 23, 1864 through June 1, 1865, a crucial period for the end of the Civil War. Content concerns staff appointments; courts martial; rations; dealing with enemy insurgents and prisoners of war; rates for military transportation on and policing of the Mississippi River; confiscating enemy cotton; the repair of weaponry and conscription of horses; and more. Several of the later orders deal with discharge of Union soldiers and the surrender of enemy officers. Selections from a few notable and representative orders follow.

No. 51, September 20, 1864: "Upon satisfactory evidence that the Rebel government has recently made large sales of cotton and other products of insurrectionary districts, to be exported by way of the Mississippi River, for the purpose of procuring, or paying for, supplies for the support of the Rebel armies, it is ordered, that all products of insurrectionary districts, coming from beyond the lines of occupation within the limits of the Division of West Mississippi...be seized, and turned over as captured property...."

No. 58, September 26, 1864, reprints an order from the Governor of Louisiana which begins, "The time has come for us to put into the army every able-bodied negro man as a soldier. ... The negro knows that he cannot escape conscription if he goes to the enemy. He must play an important part in the war. He caused the fight and he will have his portion of the burden to bear." The order which follows reads: "The class of person to whom it refers, will not be conscripted into the Armies of the United States. If they come within our lines all will be freed, and they will be received and treated as refugees. They will be accepted as volunteers, or will be employed in the public service, and their families will be cared for until they are in a condition to care for them. If a draft should become necessary, no discrimination against them will be made in the enrollment or draft."

No. 92, December 27, 1864, deals with a court martial for an incident near Brownsville, Texas, with two charges, being violations of the 6th and 9th Articles of War: "...that he, Antonio A. Dias, 2d Lieutenant 2d Texas Cavalry Volunteers, did, on or about the 14th day of June 1864, use many obnoxious epithets, to-wit: the Mexican word 'Cabron,' and many others towards, and did strike his superior officer, 1st Lieutenant A. Texxier.... [And] that he, Antonio A. Dias... did...make an unprovoked assault upon his superior officer... and did strike him, the said Lieutenant A. Texxier, a violent blow on the face, with a heavy stick, at the same time using many opprobrious epithets towards him."

No. 55, May 22, 1865, deals with surrender of the enemy: "The terms of the surrender agreed upon by Lieutenant-General Taylor and Major-General Canby, on the 4th instant, includes all officers and soldiers of the Confederate armies serving within the limits of the Departments of Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana, and all such persons within the limits of this Division who have not been paroled, by reason of having been absent from the appointed places of rendezvous, will report themselves to the Commander of the nearest U.S. Military Post,, surrender the arms and other public property that may be in their possession, and give their paroles. Failing to do this within the next thirty (30) days, they will be arrested and sent North as prisoners of war."

Price: $3,250.00