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GENERAL ORDERS,

No. 236.

WAR DEPARTMENT,
ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,

Washington, July 28, 1863.

1. A Bureau will be attached to the War Department, to be designated the Cavalry Bureau.

2. This Bureau will have charge of the organization and equipment of the Cavalry forces of the Army, and of the provision for the mounts and remounts of the same.

3. The purchases of all horses for the Cavalry service will be made by officers of the Quartermaster's Department, under the direction of the Chief of the Cavalry Bureau. Inspections of horses offered for the Cavalry service will be made by Cavalry officers.

4. Depots will be established for the reception, organization, and discipline of Cavalry recruits and new regiments, and for the collec tion, care, and training of Cavalry horses. The depots will be under the general charge of the Cavalry Bureau.

5. Copies of inspection reports of Cavalry troops, and such returns as may be at any time called for, will be sent to the Bureau established by this order.

6. The enormous expense attending the maintenance of the Cavalry arm, points to the necessity of greater care and more judicious management on the part of Cavalry officers, that their horses may be constantly kept up to the standard of efficiency for service. Great neglects of duty in this connexion are to be attributed to officers in command of Cavalry troops. It is the design of the War Department to correct such neglects by dismissing from service officers whose inefficiency and inattention result in the deterioration and loss of the public animals under their charge.

BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR:

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The following instructions, intended to promote the efficiency of the Cavalry service, are promulgated for the guidance of all concerned :

I..Inspections will be made of all Cavalry troops at the end of every month, reports of which inspections will be forwarded without delay, through the Army or Department Commander, to the Head of the Cavalry Bureau, at Washington. These reports will exhibit the condition of the Cavalry service in general, and especially the condition of the mounts. The reports shall state what service the troops inspected have done since last inspected; how many miles their horses have travelled within the month; what character of service has been required of them, and under what circumstances it has been rendered; what appears to have been the care taken of them, as regards treatment, shoeing, &c., &c.; what has been the quantity and character of the rations of forage issued to them; if there have been any deficiency of forage, and who is responsible therefor, &c., &c.; and shall convey any other information pertaining to the objects of the inspection which it may be advisable should come to the notice of the Bureau.

II..Inspection reports shall divide Cavalry horses into four classes; 1. Those which are to be condemned as unfit for any use whatever in any branch of the service. With regard to this class proceedings are to be had as required by existing regulations.

2. Those now unfit for cavalry service, and not likely to be efficient again for such service, which may be used for team or draught horses, or for herding purposes. Horses of this class are to be turned in to the Quartermaster's Department.

3. Those which are now unfit for service or nearly so, but which, by timely care and treatment in depots, will regain condition. Such horses are to be sent to such depots as may be established for the Army, to be replaced by an equal number of good animals from the depots. As soon as serviceable the horses turned in will be eligible for reissue.

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4. Serviceable horses.

The number of each class of horses will be given in every report of inspection, for each troop in the service.

III..A suitable number of officers of the Quartermaster's Department will be directed to report at once to the. Chief of the Cavalry Bureau, to be charged with disbursements for the objects of his Bureau, under his direction,

IV..Purchases will be forthwith made of a sufficient number of

horses to meet the present and prospective wants of the service up to September 1, 1863, and the horses placed in depots for issue from time to time.

V..Requisitions for remounts will be made through the intermediate Commanders on the Chief of the Cavalry Bureau, who will give orders on the depots for the horses needed to fill them.

VI..Officers of the Quartermaster's Department assigned to duty under the orders of the Chief of the Cavalry Bureau will make their reports and returns of money and property, as required by existing laws and regulations, to the Accounting Officers of the Treasury and to the Quartermaster General, and will also make to the Chief of the Cavalry Bureau such reports and returns as he may require for his information.

Estimates for funds will be submitted to the Chief of the Cavalry Bureau for his approval before being finally acted upon by the Quartermaster General.

VII..Major General GEORGE STONEMAN is announced as the Chief of the Cavalry Bureau in Washington.

BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR:

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I..Hereafter, before approving the tenders of resignation of disbursing officers, Commanding Generals will cause all public money and property in their hands to be turned over to some proper officer designated to receive the same; and the fact that such action has been had will be endorsed on the resignation, and reported besides to the head of the proper Staff Department at Washington.

II..The resignation of officers of volunteer service will only be accepted under paragraph 1647, General Regulations, upon their exhibiting satisfactory evidence from the head of the Ordnance Department,

and the proper accounting officers of the Treasury, that they have made all prescribed returns, and are in no wise indebted to the United States on account of ordnance.

BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR:

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In mustering troops into the service of the United States, the noncommissioned officers of Companies must not be mustered in until their respective Companies have the number of enlisted men required by General Orders No. 110, current series, from this Office.

Until the muster of a Company (under par. 86, Mustering Regulations) has been completed, the non-commissioned officers thereof cannot be appointed. (See par. 73, page 18, Army Regulations of 1861.) BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR:

E. D. TOWNSEND, Assistant Adjutant General.

GENERAL ORDERS,

No. 244.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,
Washington, July 28, 1863.

I..All General Officers will make a monthly report to the Adjutant General of all Aides-de-Camp attached to their staff, whether taken from regiments, additional aides, or aides appointed under the Act of July 17, 1862, on staff of corps commanders.

II..All officers of the Volunteer General Staff will report monthly, by letter, to the Adjutant General of the Army. Their reports will state, if on duty, what the duty may be, and by whose order they were

so placed on duty. If not on duty, for what cause and by whose authority they are absent. This requirement concerns all General Officers, as well as Quartermasters, Assistant Adjutant Generals, Commissaries of Subsistence, Aides-de-Camp, &c.

BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR:

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Section 8 of the Act of March 3, 1863, entitled "An act to promote the efficiency of the Corps of Engineers, &c." reads thus:

SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That the Officers of the Medical Department shall unite with the line officers of the army, under such rules and regulations as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of War, in supervising the cooking within the same, as an important sanitary measure; and that said Medical Department shall promulgate to its officers such regulations and instructions as may tend to insure the proper preparation of the ration of the soldier.

To meet the requirements of this enactment, the words "attended by the Senior Medical Officer of his command," in paragraph 116, Regulations 1861, will be inserted after the word "regiment," in the last sentence but one, so as to make that sentence read thus: "The Commanding Officer of the Post or Regiment, attended by the Senior Medical Officer of his command, will make frequent inspections of the kitchens or messes;" and the following will be added thereto : "The Medical Officer will submit his suggestions for improving the cooking, in writing, to the Commanding Officer."

BY ORDER OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR:

E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant General.

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