Order concerning supplies to drafted militia

GENERAL ORDERS, WAR DEPARTMENT,

Adjutant General’s Office,

^°' Washington, August 29, 1862.

ORDER CONCERNING SUPPLIES TO DRAFTED MILITIA.

Tlic commissioners for drafting in each county will, on the assem¬
bling of the draft at the county seat, appoint a lance corporal for
every eight men, and a lance sergeant for every sixteen men, and
will make fair and reasonable contracts for cooked provisions sufficient
to subsist the men until their arrival at the camp of rendezvous and
twenty-four hours thereafter; copies of these contracts, and duplicate
bills, certified by the commissioner and by the mustering officer, will
be sent to the Commissary General for payment.

The commissioner will accompany the men to the camp, taking the
control of them, providing for their transportation by railroad or steam¬
boat when practicable, and where it is necessary to march, he may
provide a reasonable amount of transportation for the provisions and
baggage of the men. The expenses of transportation will be paid by
the Quartermaster’s Department on duplicate bills, certified by the
commissioner.

The chief mustering officer of each State will immediately, in con¬
formity with the regulations of the Subsistence Department, advertise
for separate proposals, and make contracts for uncooked rations for
each camp, and will also immediately make their requisitions on the
Commissary General for funds to meet all subsistence for drafted men,
while they remain at camp of rendezvous.

Until companies are organized, the rations will be supplied on the
returns of the commander of each camp, and his receipt will be the
basis for a settlement with the contractor.

After organization into companies, rations will be issued on returns
signed by the company commanders, and approved by the commandant
of the camp.

After being organized into regiments, rations will be supplied to the

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Regimental Quartermaster on regimental returns signed by him, and
approved by the Colonel— the Regimental Quartermaster being charged
•with their distribution to the companies.

Cooking utensils, and such other camp equipage and blankets as
can be furnished by the Quartermaster’s Department, will be supplied
as soon as possible by the United States Quartermasters hereinafter
named, on the requisitions of the commandants of camps of rendezvous
within their respective districts, and will be issued by such command¬
ants to the men, as follows : Each man receiving a blanket will receipt
for the same, which receipt will be turned over by the commandant of
the camp of rendezvous to the quartermaster of his regiment, as soon
as he shall be appointed, and he shall make the proper entry on his
account.

Camp equipage, issued before the organization of companies, will
be receipted for by the lance sergeant of the squad, and taken up by
the quartermaster of the regiment, on his return, as soon as the regi¬
ment is organized. When issued after the organization of a company,
it will be receipted for by the captain, and taken up in like manner.

It will be the duty of the officer of the United States Quartermaster’s
Department to forward to the several camps of rendezvous, as soon as
possible, camp and garrison equipage, necessary for the first organiza¬
tion. Arrangements now in progress will provide the uniform clothing,
Avhich will not be issued to the soldiers until the organization of regi¬
ments is completed.

As the sudden call for volunteers and militia has exhausted the
supply of blankets, fit for military purposes, in the market, and it will
take some time to procure by manufacture or importation a sufficient
supply, all citizens who may volunteer or bo dratted are advised to
take with them to the rendezvous, if possible, a good stout wmolen
blanket. The regulation military blanket is 84x66 inches, and weighs
five pounds.

As all clothing, blankets, and shoes issued by the United States to
its troops are charged at average cost, and no soldier wrlio furnishes his
own blanket is required to draw one, it is to his interest to supply
himself, and thereby avoid much discomfort, as it is impossible for the
United States to supply all the troops immediately.

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The camps of rendezvous in the different States will be supplied by
the United States Quartermaster, as follows : Camps in

Maine,

New Hampshire,
Massachusetts,

A

S

Captain McKim,
Assistant Q. M.,
Boston.

Vermont, ^

Connecticut,

Rhode Island,

New York,

New Jersey, (part of,) J

New' Jersey, (part of,) )
Pennsylvania, >

.Delaware, )

Colonel Vinton,

Deputy Q. M. G.,

New York.

Colonel Crosman,

Deputy Q. M. G.,

Philadelphia.

Camps near Harrisburg will be supplied by requisition upon Captain
E. C. Wilson, A. Q. M., at Harrisburg. Those near Pittsburg by
Major A. Montgomery, Q. M., U. S. A., at Pittsburg.

Ohio — Captain J. II. Dickerson, A. Q. M., Cincinnati.

Indiana — Captain James A. E. Kin, A. Q. M., Indianapolis.

Illinois, ? Captain J. A. Potter, A. Q. M.,

Wisconsin, J Chicago.

Kentucky — Colonel Thomas Swords, A. Q. M. Gen’l, Louisville.
Michigan — Captain G. W. Lee, A. Q. M., Detroit.

IowTa — Captain H. B. Hendershott, 2d Artillery, Davenport.
Minnesota — Captain T. M. Saunders, 3d Artillery, St. Paul.
Camps near St. Louis will be supplied by Major Robert Allen, Chief
Quartermaster of the Department of the Mississippi.

By order of tiie Secretary of War:

E. D. TOWNSEND,

Assistant Adjutant General.