68 



AEMY OPERATIONS. 



will be sent, except those from the army where head- 

 quarters are at the date of this address. 

 (Signed) U. S. GRANT, Lieut.-Gen. U. S. A. 



On the 19th Gen. Grant left Nashville for 

 Washington, and proceeded thence to the Army 

 of the Potomac. On the 24th the following 

 order was issued by Gen Meade, in command 

 of the Army of the Potomac : 



HEADQTTABTERS ARMY or THE POTOMAC, ) 



General Orders No. 10. 



Thursday, March 24, 1864. 



The following order has been received from the 

 War Department : 



WAB DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, I 

 WASHINGTON, March 23, 1864. j 

 General Orders No. 15. 



By direction of the President of the United States 

 the number of army corps comprising the army of the 

 Potomac will be reduced to three, viz., the 2d, 5th, 

 and 6th corps ; and the troops of the other two corps, 

 viz., the 1st and 3d, will be temporarily reorganized 

 and distributed among the 2d, 5th and 6th by the 

 commanding general, who will determine what exist- 

 ing organizations will retain their corps badges and 

 other distinctive marks. The staff and officers of the 2d 

 corps, which are temporarily broken up, will be 

 assigned to vacancies in the other corps, so far as 

 such vacancies may exist. Those for whom there are 

 no vacancies will cease to be considered as officers of 

 the general staff of army corps. 



2. Maj.-Gen. G. K. Warren is assigned by the Pres- 

 ident to the command of the 5th corps. 



3. The following general officers are detached from 

 the Army of the Potomac, and will report for orders 

 to the Adjutant General of the army, viz.: Maj.-Gen. 

 George Sykes, U. S. V.; Maj.-Gen. W. H. French, U. 

 S. yl; Maj.-Gen. John Newton, U. S. V.; Brig.-Gen. 

 J. R. Kenly, U. S. V.; Brig.-Gen. F. Spinola, U. S. V., 

 and Brig.-Gen. Solomon Meredith, TJ. S. V. 



By order of the Secretary of War. 



E. D. TOWNSEND, Ass't Adj't Gen. 



The following arrangements are made to carry 

 out the provisions of the foregoing order : 



The 2d, 5th, and 6th army corps will each be con- 

 solidated into two divisions. The 1st and 2d divis- 

 ions of the 3d corps are transferred to the 2d corps, 

 preserving their badges and distinctive marks. The 

 3d division of the 3d corps is transferred permanently 

 to the 6th corps. The three divisions now forming 

 the 1st corps are transferred to the 5th corps, preserv- 

 ing their badges and distinctive marks, and on forming 

 the 5th corps they will be consolidated into two 

 divisions. 



The commanders of divisions transferred to the 

 2d, 5th, and 6th corps will at once report to the com- 

 manders of those corns for instructions. Brig.-Gen. J. 

 B.Carr will report to Maj.-Gen. Hancock, commanding 

 2d corps, and Brig.-Gen. H. Prince to Maj.-Gen. Sedg- 

 wick, commanding 6th corps. The chief of artillery 

 will assign eight batteries each to the 2d, 5th, and 6th 

 corps ; the batteries to be taken from those now with 

 the corps and with the 1st and 3d corps. The bat- 

 teries with the several corps in excess of the above 

 allowance will join the artillery reserve. 



The consolidation of divisions called for in this 

 order will be made by the corps commanders con- 

 cerned, who are authorized to rearrange the bri- 

 gades of their respective commands in such manner as 

 they may think best for the service. The reassign- 

 ment of officers of the staff departments consequent 

 upon the reorganization of the army, will be made 

 upon the nomination of chiefs of the staff' depart- 

 ments at these headquarters. 



Special instructions will be given hereafter with re- 

 spect to staff officers of the 2d corps, temporarily 

 broken up. 



The Slaj or- General Commanding avails himself 



of the occasion to say that, in view of the reduced 

 strength of nearly all the regiments serving in this 

 army, the temporary reduction of the army corps to 

 three is a measure imperatively demanded by the 

 best interests of the service, and that the reasons foi 

 attaching the 1st and 3d corps for the time being te 

 other corps, were in no respect founded on any sup- 

 posed inferiority of those corps to the other coVps of 

 the army. All the corps have equally proved their 

 valor in many fields, and all have equal claims to the 

 confidence of the Government and the country. The 

 1st and 3d corps will retain their badges and dis- 

 tinctive marks, and the Major-General Commanding 

 indulges the hope that the ranks of the army will be 

 filled at an early day, so that those corps can again 

 be reorganized. 



By command of Maj.-Gen. MEADE. 



S. WILLIAMS, Ass't Adj't Gen. 



A concentration of troops was now com- 

 menced in preparation for a campaign against 

 Richmond,in Virginia, by the Army of the Poto- 

 mac, under Gen. Meade, and a campaign against 

 Atlanta, in Georgia, by the Army of Tennessee, 

 under Gen. Sherman. Gen. Grant continued to 

 be present with the Army of the Potomac during 

 the year. Gen. Meade was as truly the com- 

 mander of that army as Gen. W. T. Sherman 

 of the army operating in Georgia, and both 

 these officers were equally under the command 

 of Gen. Grant. His presence with the Army 

 of the Potomac naturally led to his assuming 

 a more direct and personal supervision of affairs 

 in Virginia than he was able to do of the co- 

 operative movement of Gen.Sherman in Georgia. 

 The orders of Gen. Grant to Gen. Meade were 

 of the most general character. The manner of 

 executing them was left to the judgment and 

 skill of the latter. It was now nine months 

 since the Army of the Potomac had fought a 

 general battle, and seven months since the 

 Western army marched into Chattanooga the 

 last battle for the possession of which was 

 fought in November. 



The month of April passed in reorganizing 

 both armies, and in making preparations for the 

 campaign against Richmond and Atlanta. 



It was the middle of March when Gen. 

 Grant turned over the military division of 

 the Mississippi, comprising the departments 

 of the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the 

 Ohio, to Major-General "W. T. Sherman, who 

 had previously commanded the department "of 

 the Tennessee", to which Major-General Mc- 

 Pherson was soon after assigned. In the suc- 

 ceeding month the general plan of the summer 

 campaign, which contemplated a simultaneous 

 advance upon Richmond by the army of the 

 Potomac, and upon Atlanta from Chattanooga, 

 by the several western armies, was matured, 

 and Gen. Sherman at once bent every energy 

 to the perfecting and enlargement of the com 

 munications between Nashville and Chatta- 

 nooga, his primary and secondary bases, and to 

 the accumulation in the latter place of a suffi- 

 cient quantity of provisions and military stores. 

 These went forward with great rapidity, and b^ 

 the end of April the depots in Chattanooga 

 were reported abundantly supplied for all im- 

 mediate purposes. 



