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1st Division, United States Colored Troops, Vicksburg: Austrian Rifles, November 1863 (OR's, CHAP. XXXVIII. [Series I. Vol. 26. Part I, Reports & Union Correspondence. Serial No. 41.)
5th US Colored Heavy Artillery: Turned in 34 unserviceable Burnside Carbines and 11 Springfield Rifles, November 14, 1865 (Western Illinois University)
9th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, African Descent, Austrian rifles, May 1863 (Johns, Jane Martin. Personal recollections of early Decatur, Abraham Lincoln, Richard J. Oglesby and the Civil War. Decatur, Ill.: Decatur Chapter, D.A.R., 1912, p. 138.)
48th USCT: Austrian muskets, March 1864 (RG 393 U. S. Army Continental Commands, Successions of Commands, NARA)
50th USCT: Turned in 8 Burnside Carbines and 10 Springfield Rifles, (Western Illinois University)
51st USCT: Austrian rifles with bayonets, February 1864 (Confederate Veteran, April 1911)
52nd USCT: Quantity of 50 Burnside carbines, September 15, 1865 (Western Illinois University)
53rd USCT: Springfield Rifle, September 25, 1865 (Western Illinois University)
58th USCT: Quantity of 594 Enfield Rifles, .577 Cal. and a quantity of 78 light French rifles, .58 Cal. August 15, 1864, (Chicago Historical Society)
63rd and 64th USCT detachments near Natchez: Quantity of 640 Springfield Rifles, August 15, 1864, (Chicago Historical Society)
70th USCT: Quantity of 418 Enfield .577 Cal. Rifle Muskets, Quantity of 317 Austrian .54 Cal. Rifle Muskets, August 15, 1864 (Chicago Historical Society)
71st USCT: Quantity of 168 Enfield .577 Cal. Rifle Muskets, August 15, 1864 (Chicago Historical Society)
2nd and 3rd Batteries, 6th US Colored Heavy Artillery: Quantity of 299, Enfield .577 Cal. Rifle Muskets, August 15, 1864 (Chicago Historical Society)
1st Battery, 6th US Colored Heavy Artillery: Quantity of 209 Enfield .577 Cal. Rifle Muskets and 89 Austrian .54 Cal. Rifle Muskets, August 5, 1864 (Chicago Historical Society)
Uniforms:
Service Record of William Jones, 5th US Colored Heavy Artillery: "Items he left behind with his widow Elsie: Forage cap, flannel sack coat, pair of trowsers, wool flannel shirt, pair of pegged shoes, unlined blouse." (Special Note: Flannel Shirts were prevalent among the colored troops recruited in the Natchez/Vicksburg region)
"G. O. No. 47, Sept 21, 1864. Anyone caught wearing part of a uniform will be arrested." (Vicksburg Daily Herald)
"several instances of high-handed outrages perpetrated by some of the negro troops stationed at this post on their colored brethren. One day last week a negro man drove his former mistress and her daughter to town in their carriage. He wore a blue coat that he had bought from a Yankee soldier. This being observed by these negro troops, some three or four of them set upon him, compelling him to strip off his coat and give it to them. This inoffensive negro man, who had obtained his coat honestly, was not only robbed of it by these rascals, but was compelled to drive home—a distance of some eight or ten miles—in his shirt-sleeves, during which he was exposed to a cold, drenching rain." (Canton Semi-Weekly Citizen, October 29, 1865)
Canteens and Haversacks:
Samuel Swain (58th USCT) to Mother, February 18, 1865, Vicksburg, Mississippi
"You asked how we marked the mens knapsacks etc. It was done with stencils in the following manner. On the knapsack we put Co. "F" then the number of the man whatever that might be. Then the canteen on one side the Co and on the other the number. In this way through all the company so if any one should lose his canteen it could be easily be identified." (Swain Papers, University of Wisconsin)
Grooming:
Benjamin Marshall Mills to Father, January 20, 1865, Vicksburg, Mississippi.
"In the evening we had quite a lively time the Orders from Genl Hawkins were that no man should wear his hair longer than an inch. so after supper Lieut Hall and I wend down to the barracks, having provided ourselves beforehand with a sharp pair of scissors and taking one of the men who was a good barber set him to work on their wooly heads. Now of all things a Darkey prides himself on, it is to see how long his hair will grow and they will tie it up with strings and sometimes will not cut it for years, so when we commenced operations there was fire in the pan but we persevered and in the course of two hours had every mans hair the proper length." (Mills Papers, Indiana Historical Society)
Camp Equipage:
58th USCT, Report of Shelters and Tents, January 21, 1865, Natchez, Mississippi
201 10x7 shelter tents for enlisted men
three 10x12, 16x12, and 14x12 board huts for officers.
one 12x6 cook room. (RG94 58th USCT Records, NARA)
Camp Routine:
Vicksburg, Mississippi, February 18, 1865
5:30 a.m. reveille. 6:00 a.m. fatigue call: details will begin policing the camp, prisoners will be turned out for policing the camp. It should not last more than 30 minutes. In the meantime, the enlisted men will cleaning and brushing the clothes, blacking their shoes, and airing their blankets and clothes. 6:30 a.m. breakfast call. 6:50 Surgeon's call (sick call). 7:00 a.m. Guard call, men chosen for guard will be inspected. 8 am dress parade. 9 am, company drill. 11 am recall from drill. 12 am, dinner call. 3 pm battalion drill. 5 pm recall from drill, dress parade at retreat. 8 pm tattoo. 8:15 taps "taps will be three distinct taps of the drum at two second intervals" No drill on Saturday afternoons: men will wash their clothes and persons under supervision of a 1st sergt. Regt will have dress parade whenever weather permits. The men must appear with guns in order, clothes brushed, shoes blacked. (RG 393 U. S. Army Continental Commands, Successions of Commands, No. 110)
Dear Sister, from John L. Matthews, 47th USCT, July 12, 1863, Milliken's Bend
"We have fixed up our tents very nice this week we made arbors of green cane over them and lattice work of the same around the sides and made a nice place to eat under. Also shaded walks in front of very row of company tents. We keep ourselves tolerable comfortable now in the heat of the day."
(Matthews Papers, State Historical Society of Iowa)
Civilians in camp:
"all colored women now employed and staying in their companies to leave permanently this camp, and under no circumstances will they be permitted to come within the Guard lines after this day. The females will assemble at 10 o'clock A. M. and will be sent below under charge of a commissioned officer. (RG 94, 49th USCT Regimental Records, NARA)
"Hereafter two women will be allowed to each company as laundresses whose duty it will be to wash the underclothes of all men in the company at least once a week. They will be selected by the company commander who will see that they attend to their duties properly discharging them when they fail or employ any others." (RG 94, Regimental Books 47th USCT, NARA)
Education and Morals:
"In consequence of the heavy duty the man have been compelled to perform for several months past they have been very irregular in their attendance of school. The following regulation in the school of the regiment will be observed in future. Each relief of the guard will be instructed an hour by Chaplain Merrill every day. And he will also be required to visit each company every day to encourage the men to attend school. Church will only be held when in his opinion when it will be to their best interest. Education it is believed should be the paramount object in elevating these soldiers to the true status of manhood. The school will continue as heretofore. During the day and evenings under charge of Mifs Pickha[?] who will teach the soldiers belonging to this regiment, their wives & children and any person who may come from outside as long as they do not interfere with those belonging to this regiment. The officers are enjoined to do all in their power to compel the men to attend school. As we are to encourage Mifs. Pickha[?] who has always labored with commendable zeal for the improvement of these men and regiment. The good results that have followed must be clear to all and we most conclude that much soon may be accomplished with our exertions on the part of all. Officers should indelibly fix in the minds of their men by repeated lectures, the importance of learning to read & write and that it is only by education that they can ever attain a higher standard of manhood than the common "nigger" Two hours each day might be spent by the most of the men profitably in school instead of studying and hanging around in places where they ought not to be. Chaplain Merrill will have free supervision of the schools of this regiment." (RG 94, 49th USCT Regimental Records, NARA)
Office Pro. Mar. Genl of Freedmen
Vicksburg, Miss., Jan 31, 1865
Orders were issued by Maj. Genl C. C. Washburn to me, requiring that a large number of the colored people of the city and vicinity, that were living in idleness and vagrancy in & about the camps of the soldiers, be removed. This I tried to carry out, yet, owing to the interference of such men as Chaplain Carruthers, through a mistaken idea of philanthropy, I failed to do so.
The consequence is, that the Regiments are crowded with women of bad character, and soldier's wives and children are living in wretchedness and miserable hovels, when land can be furnished in safe localities where they can build good houses and support themselves by cultivating it.
Some of the Chaplains are devoting themselves to this, and, I am glad to say, are doing more good for "our soldiers" than they possibly can by raising questions about the legality of the action of officers in ...." (Pre-Bureau Records, NARA)
Medicine:
Benjamin M. Mills, Vicksburg, summer 1864. "I can tell you nothing about the Hospitals of this place except one which is across the street from our camp. It is a very large building with a large yard which is full of Hospital tents and they are filled with sick which is all I know about it. There is great deal of sickness in our Regiment. Three men of my company have died since I came here and two are in the Hosp. now very sick." (Mills Papers, Indiana Historical Society)
Officer's Uniforms:
Samuel Swain, a Lt. in the 58th USCT stationed in Natchez requested the following items from home in 1864: "Coat & shoulder straps...dark blue pants, Burnside hat, a pair of gaiters, two brown linen shirts, and a pair of cotton socks." (Swain Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society.)
Benjamin Mills, upon learning that officers would have to wear a full dress uniform when the guard was changed every morning in Vicksburg, sent a request to his father, writing, "I will have to have a pair of those light blue & doe skin pants as that is the Cols orders...send me some paper collars, some stand up and the rest of them turned down ones...the Regulations...say that all Officers shall wear Sky Blue pants." In early 1865 he requested yet another pair of trousers with this description, " a pair of dark sky blue pants.. with a black welt down the side...not lined."
Yet, even officers sought to bend the regulations on dress from time to time, thus forcing their superiors to take action. Mills was particularly miffed and General John P. Hawkins when the young Lt. wrote this home to his parents in August 1864, " I hope he will not be in command long for he is too hard on those under him. He issued an order if an Officer be caught out of camp with a linen coat or a straw hat on that he would be dismissed from the service immediately and you an easily imagine how agreeable a thick coat must be this warm weather. So you see what kind of men these Regular Army men are.
Privately Purchased Hats:
Vicksburg, August 14, 1864.
Charge: Using threatening and mutinous language to the prejudice of good order and military discipline. Capt. George E. Dolphin was punishing one of the men of his company. Glass said, "If an office was to use me the way that man is being used, I'll be G-- d----d if I wouldn't shoot him," or words to that effect and use other expressions of a similar character in the presence of members of his own and other companies. near Vicksburg, 8 June 1864. On the same day he was also wearing a privately purchased hat, and refused to take it off, saying, "They can't have my hat unless the Quartermaster pays me for it."
Guilty: Three months confinement with ball and chain forfeiture of pay.
(RG 393 U. S. Army Continental Commands, Successions of Commands, No. 110. NARA)
Confederate Prisoners
Dear Sister, from John L. Matthews, July 20, 1863, Milliken's Bend
"An occasional boat load of prisoners pass up, but that has become so common a thing that the darkies have almost ceased to run out and hoot at them." (Matthews Papers, State Historical Society of Iowa)
Punishment
Scofield to Capt. Puckett, comdg 47th usci.
"I noticed in your report of punishments that men as a punishment were made to do an extra amount of Picket duty. This mode of punishment is disapproved in General Orders and is objectionable for the reason that it has a tendency to degrade the profession of a soldier. The solider should not be required as a punishment to do any duty under arms—To carry a loaded knapsack is objectionable for the same reason. You will please cause the men instead to carry a log of wood or something of the kind. The General Commanding the Division directs that the punishments of tying up by the thumbs or hands and all punishments that in their nature excites the sympathy of their comrades and are liable to cause mutiny should be discontinued in the command. You will please cause the company commanders to be particularly to cause the men in camp and elsewhere to make the proper salute to officers punishing those who neglect—lightly at first, but more severely in a short time. You will please hold Company Commanders responsible for any inattention to this matter. "(RG 393, U.S. Army Continental Commands, Successions of Commands, No. 111.)
Prohibited Punishments, August 28, 1864:
"Tying men up (stretched up) by the hands or wrists or thumbs.
"Bucking and gagging, the latter may however be used when a man will not stop talking or making noise after being ordered to stop."
"Making men undergo punishment, Carrying knapsack accoutrements or Gun. Extra tour of Guard duty." (RG 393 U. S. Army Continental Commands, Successions of Commands, No. 110.)
Dear Father, January 20, 1865, Vicksburg
"Found Capt. Hall inspecting the company in being the regular day for company inspection 2 non commissioned officers and 15 privates had dirty guns and were punished in the following manner. The noncom officers were put in arrest and the privates were made to carry large sticks of wood on their shoulders until 9 P.M. without any dinner or supper. (Mills Papers, Indiana Historical Society)
Unit, Type of Firearm, Date of Documentation, Source
1st Division, United States Colored Troops, Vicksburg: Austrian Rifles, November 1863 (OR's, CHAP. XXXVIII. [Series I. Vol. 26. Part I, Reports & Union Correspondence. Serial No. 41.)
5th US Colored Heavy Artillery: Turned in 34 unserviceable Burnside Carbines and 11 Springfield Rifles, November 14, 1865 (Western Illinois University)
9th Regiment Louisiana Infantry, African Descent, Austrian rifles, May 1863 (Johns, Jane Martin. Personal recollections of early Decatur, Abraham Lincoln, Richard J. Oglesby and the Civil War. Decatur, Ill.: Decatur Chapter, D.A.R., 1912, p. 138.)
48th USCT: Austrian muskets, March 1864 (RG 393 U. S. Army Continental Commands, Successions of Commands, NARA)
50th USCT: Turned in 8 Burnside Carbines and 10 Springfield Rifles, (Western Illinois University)
51st USCT: Austrian rifles with bayonets, February 1864 (Confederate Veteran, April 1911)
52nd USCT: Quantity of 50 Burnside carbines, September 15, 1865 (Western Illinois University)
53rd USCT: Springfield Rifle, September 25, 1865 (Western Illinois University)
58th USCT: Quantity of 594 Enfield Rifles, .577 Cal. and a quantity of 78 light French rifles, .58 Cal. August 15, 1864, (Chicago Historical Society)
63rd and 64th USCT detachments near Natchez: Quantity of 640 Springfield Rifles, August 15, 1864, (Chicago Historical Society)
70th USCT: Quantity of 418 Enfield .577 Cal. Rifle Muskets, Quantity of 317 Austrian .54 Cal. Rifle Muskets, August 15, 1864 (Chicago Historical Society)
71st USCT: Quantity of 168 Enfield .577 Cal. Rifle Muskets, August 15, 1864 (Chicago Historical Society)
2nd and 3rd Batteries, 6th US Colored Heavy Artillery: Quantity of 299, Enfield .577 Cal. Rifle Muskets, August 15, 1864 (Chicago Historical Society)
1st Battery, 6th US Colored Heavy Artillery: Quantity of 209 Enfield .577 Cal. Rifle Muskets and 89 Austrian .54 Cal. Rifle Muskets, August 5, 1864 (Chicago Historical Society)
Uniforms:
Service Record of William Jones, 5th US Colored Heavy Artillery: "Items he left behind with his widow Elsie: Forage cap, flannel sack coat, pair of trowsers, wool flannel shirt, pair of pegged shoes, unlined blouse." (Special Note: Flannel Shirts were prevalent among the colored troops recruited in the Natchez/Vicksburg region)
"G. O. No. 47, Sept 21, 1864. Anyone caught wearing part of a uniform will be arrested." (Vicksburg Daily Herald)
"several instances of high-handed outrages perpetrated by some of the negro troops stationed at this post on their colored brethren. One day last week a negro man drove his former mistress and her daughter to town in their carriage. He wore a blue coat that he had bought from a Yankee soldier. This being observed by these negro troops, some three or four of them set upon him, compelling him to strip off his coat and give it to them. This inoffensive negro man, who had obtained his coat honestly, was not only robbed of it by these rascals, but was compelled to drive home—a distance of some eight or ten miles—in his shirt-sleeves, during which he was exposed to a cold, drenching rain." (Canton Semi-Weekly Citizen, October 29, 1865)
Canteens and Haversacks:
Samuel Swain (58th USCT) to Mother, February 18, 1865, Vicksburg, Mississippi
"You asked how we marked the mens knapsacks etc. It was done with stencils in the following manner. On the knapsack we put Co. "F" then the number of the man whatever that might be. Then the canteen on one side the Co and on the other the number. In this way through all the company so if any one should lose his canteen it could be easily be identified." (Swain Papers, University of Wisconsin)
Grooming:
Benjamin Marshall Mills to Father, January 20, 1865, Vicksburg, Mississippi.
"In the evening we had quite a lively time the Orders from Genl Hawkins were that no man should wear his hair longer than an inch. so after supper Lieut Hall and I wend down to the barracks, having provided ourselves beforehand with a sharp pair of scissors and taking one of the men who was a good barber set him to work on their wooly heads. Now of all things a Darkey prides himself on, it is to see how long his hair will grow and they will tie it up with strings and sometimes will not cut it for years, so when we commenced operations there was fire in the pan but we persevered and in the course of two hours had every mans hair the proper length." (Mills Papers, Indiana Historical Society)
Camp Equipage:
58th USCT, Report of Shelters and Tents, January 21, 1865, Natchez, Mississippi
201 10x7 shelter tents for enlisted men
three 10x12, 16x12, and 14x12 board huts for officers.
one 12x6 cook room. (RG94 58th USCT Records, NARA)
Camp Routine:
Vicksburg, Mississippi, February 18, 1865
5:30 a.m. reveille. 6:00 a.m. fatigue call: details will begin policing the camp, prisoners will be turned out for policing the camp. It should not last more than 30 minutes. In the meantime, the enlisted men will cleaning and brushing the clothes, blacking their shoes, and airing their blankets and clothes. 6:30 a.m. breakfast call. 6:50 Surgeon's call (sick call). 7:00 a.m. Guard call, men chosen for guard will be inspected. 8 am dress parade. 9 am, company drill. 11 am recall from drill. 12 am, dinner call. 3 pm battalion drill. 5 pm recall from drill, dress parade at retreat. 8 pm tattoo. 8:15 taps "taps will be three distinct taps of the drum at two second intervals" No drill on Saturday afternoons: men will wash their clothes and persons under supervision of a 1st sergt. Regt will have dress parade whenever weather permits. The men must appear with guns in order, clothes brushed, shoes blacked. (RG 393 U. S. Army Continental Commands, Successions of Commands, No. 110)
Dear Sister, from John L. Matthews, 47th USCT, July 12, 1863, Milliken's Bend
"We have fixed up our tents very nice this week we made arbors of green cane over them and lattice work of the same around the sides and made a nice place to eat under. Also shaded walks in front of very row of company tents. We keep ourselves tolerable comfortable now in the heat of the day."
(Matthews Papers, State Historical Society of Iowa)
Civilians in camp:
"all colored women now employed and staying in their companies to leave permanently this camp, and under no circumstances will they be permitted to come within the Guard lines after this day. The females will assemble at 10 o'clock A. M. and will be sent below under charge of a commissioned officer. (RG 94, 49th USCT Regimental Records, NARA)
"Hereafter two women will be allowed to each company as laundresses whose duty it will be to wash the underclothes of all men in the company at least once a week. They will be selected by the company commander who will see that they attend to their duties properly discharging them when they fail or employ any others." (RG 94, Regimental Books 47th USCT, NARA)
Education and Morals:
"In consequence of the heavy duty the man have been compelled to perform for several months past they have been very irregular in their attendance of school. The following regulation in the school of the regiment will be observed in future. Each relief of the guard will be instructed an hour by Chaplain Merrill every day. And he will also be required to visit each company every day to encourage the men to attend school. Church will only be held when in his opinion when it will be to their best interest. Education it is believed should be the paramount object in elevating these soldiers to the true status of manhood. The school will continue as heretofore. During the day and evenings under charge of Mifs Pickha[?] who will teach the soldiers belonging to this regiment, their wives & children and any person who may come from outside as long as they do not interfere with those belonging to this regiment. The officers are enjoined to do all in their power to compel the men to attend school. As we are to encourage Mifs. Pickha[?] who has always labored with commendable zeal for the improvement of these men and regiment. The good results that have followed must be clear to all and we most conclude that much soon may be accomplished with our exertions on the part of all. Officers should indelibly fix in the minds of their men by repeated lectures, the importance of learning to read & write and that it is only by education that they can ever attain a higher standard of manhood than the common "nigger" Two hours each day might be spent by the most of the men profitably in school instead of studying and hanging around in places where they ought not to be. Chaplain Merrill will have free supervision of the schools of this regiment." (RG 94, 49th USCT Regimental Records, NARA)
Office Pro. Mar. Genl of Freedmen
Vicksburg, Miss., Jan 31, 1865
Orders were issued by Maj. Genl C. C. Washburn to me, requiring that a large number of the colored people of the city and vicinity, that were living in idleness and vagrancy in & about the camps of the soldiers, be removed. This I tried to carry out, yet, owing to the interference of such men as Chaplain Carruthers, through a mistaken idea of philanthropy, I failed to do so.
The consequence is, that the Regiments are crowded with women of bad character, and soldier's wives and children are living in wretchedness and miserable hovels, when land can be furnished in safe localities where they can build good houses and support themselves by cultivating it.
Some of the Chaplains are devoting themselves to this, and, I am glad to say, are doing more good for "our soldiers" than they possibly can by raising questions about the legality of the action of officers in ...." (Pre-Bureau Records, NARA)
Medicine:
Benjamin M. Mills, Vicksburg, summer 1864. "I can tell you nothing about the Hospitals of this place except one which is across the street from our camp. It is a very large building with a large yard which is full of Hospital tents and they are filled with sick which is all I know about it. There is great deal of sickness in our Regiment. Three men of my company have died since I came here and two are in the Hosp. now very sick." (Mills Papers, Indiana Historical Society)
Officer's Uniforms:
Samuel Swain, a Lt. in the 58th USCT stationed in Natchez requested the following items from home in 1864: "Coat & shoulder straps...dark blue pants, Burnside hat, a pair of gaiters, two brown linen shirts, and a pair of cotton socks." (Swain Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society.)
Benjamin Mills, upon learning that officers would have to wear a full dress uniform when the guard was changed every morning in Vicksburg, sent a request to his father, writing, "I will have to have a pair of those light blue & doe skin pants as that is the Cols orders...send me some paper collars, some stand up and the rest of them turned down ones...the Regulations...say that all Officers shall wear Sky Blue pants." In early 1865 he requested yet another pair of trousers with this description, " a pair of dark sky blue pants.. with a black welt down the side...not lined."
Yet, even officers sought to bend the regulations on dress from time to time, thus forcing their superiors to take action. Mills was particularly miffed and General John P. Hawkins when the young Lt. wrote this home to his parents in August 1864, " I hope he will not be in command long for he is too hard on those under him. He issued an order if an Officer be caught out of camp with a linen coat or a straw hat on that he would be dismissed from the service immediately and you an easily imagine how agreeable a thick coat must be this warm weather. So you see what kind of men these Regular Army men are.
Privately Purchased Hats:
Vicksburg, August 14, 1864.
Charge: Using threatening and mutinous language to the prejudice of good order and military discipline. Capt. George E. Dolphin was punishing one of the men of his company. Glass said, "If an office was to use me the way that man is being used, I'll be G-- d----d if I wouldn't shoot him," or words to that effect and use other expressions of a similar character in the presence of members of his own and other companies. near Vicksburg, 8 June 1864. On the same day he was also wearing a privately purchased hat, and refused to take it off, saying, "They can't have my hat unless the Quartermaster pays me for it."
Guilty: Three months confinement with ball and chain forfeiture of pay.
(RG 393 U. S. Army Continental Commands, Successions of Commands, No. 110. NARA)
Confederate Prisoners
Dear Sister, from John L. Matthews, July 20, 1863, Milliken's Bend
"An occasional boat load of prisoners pass up, but that has become so common a thing that the darkies have almost ceased to run out and hoot at them." (Matthews Papers, State Historical Society of Iowa)
Punishment
Scofield to Capt. Puckett, comdg 47th usci.
"I noticed in your report of punishments that men as a punishment were made to do an extra amount of Picket duty. This mode of punishment is disapproved in General Orders and is objectionable for the reason that it has a tendency to degrade the profession of a soldier. The solider should not be required as a punishment to do any duty under arms—To carry a loaded knapsack is objectionable for the same reason. You will please cause the men instead to carry a log of wood or something of the kind. The General Commanding the Division directs that the punishments of tying up by the thumbs or hands and all punishments that in their nature excites the sympathy of their comrades and are liable to cause mutiny should be discontinued in the command. You will please cause the company commanders to be particularly to cause the men in camp and elsewhere to make the proper salute to officers punishing those who neglect—lightly at first, but more severely in a short time. You will please hold Company Commanders responsible for any inattention to this matter. "(RG 393, U.S. Army Continental Commands, Successions of Commands, No. 111.)
Prohibited Punishments, August 28, 1864:
"Tying men up (stretched up) by the hands or wrists or thumbs.
"Bucking and gagging, the latter may however be used when a man will not stop talking or making noise after being ordered to stop."
"Making men undergo punishment, Carrying knapsack accoutrements or Gun. Extra tour of Guard duty." (RG 393 U. S. Army Continental Commands, Successions of Commands, No. 110.)
Dear Father, January 20, 1865, Vicksburg
"Found Capt. Hall inspecting the company in being the regular day for company inspection 2 non commissioned officers and 15 privates had dirty guns and were punished in the following manner. The noncom officers were put in arrest and the privates were made to carry large sticks of wood on their shoulders until 9 P.M. without any dinner or supper. (Mills Papers, Indiana Historical Society)
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