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GENERAL ORDERS No. 5.

HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF TENNESSEE,
Dalton, Ga., January 8, 1864.

The following regulations are published for the government of the troops in this army in camp. They are to be read at the head of each company at least once every week. Copies are to be furnished all field, staff, and company officers:

1. The hours of service and roll-call as follows: Reveille at daylight; police immediately after reveille; surgeon's call fifteen minutes after reveille; stable call fifteen minutes after reveille; first sergeant's call half hour after reveille; breakfast at sunrise; adjutant's call at 9 a.m.; drill from 10 to 11.30 a.m.; officers' drill from 11 a.m. to 12 m.; dinner at 12.30 p.m.; drill from 2.30 to 4 p.m.; guard mounting at 4 p.m.; stable call at 4 p.m.; camp and company police at 4.30 p.m.; dress parade at sunset; supper immediately after parade; tattoo at 8 p.m.; taps one hour after tattoo. Men are not to be excused from duty of any kind, except for disability, by their medical officers and for meritorious conduct by their regimental commanders or officers of higher rank. Company commanders and their subalterns are specially prohibited from assuming this power in any case whatever.

2. The roll of the enlisted men of each company is to be called by the first sergeant at reveille, at morning and afternoon drill, at dress parade, and at tattoo.

3. [regarding artillery]

4. On Sundays there are no drills. Inspection is to be at 10 a.m., under the personal supervision of the brigade commanders, and the commanders of divisions are to supervise these inspections, being present with one of their brigades each Sunday.

Once a week the commander of each division, accompanied by all his brigade commanders, will visit and thoroughly inspect the camp of each brigade, including stores and field transportation.

Whenever practicable, religious services are to be held in camp on Sundays, when the utmost decorum is to be observed. Religious services at night are not to extend beyond taps.

5. At reveille and tattoo the men are to be in ranks when the drum stops beating. A preparatory signal is to be beaten five minutes before all other calls, at which the men assemble on their company grounds. Ranks are formed at the second beating of the drum. When it stops the companies are called to attention, and those who fall in after this are to be reported as "late."

First sergeants are to commit their rolls to memory, call them promptly, and immediately report to the company officers of highest rank present. Where there are more than one of the same surname numbers are to be used.

At reveille and tattoo all company officers are to be present, and at least one is to be present at all other roll-calls. First sergeants enter first in order for fatigue details, all absentees late and men whose arms or accouterments are in bad condition or who are neglectful of cleanliness in their persons, clothing, or tents.

The company officer to whom absentees are reported at any roll-call immediately reports them to the adjutant of the regiment, and the adjutant reports to the regimental commander the company officers improperly absent from such roll-call, and the regimental commander reports to the commander of the brigade.

The officers to whom absentees are reported are to take prompt measures for arresting and bringing them to punishment.

6. At surgeon's call the sick in camp assemble on their respective company grounds and are marched to the hospital by a non-commissioned officer, one of whom is detailed daily for that duty. None are to present themselves for treatment except in this manner without special permission. The non-commissioned officer takes with him the company sick-book, and returns it to the first sergeant after the surgeon has made the proper entries therein.

Company, regimental, and brigade commanders are required at all times to know how their sick are situated and are responsible for the prevention of neglect and ill treatment within the limits of their respective commands. It is likewise made their duty to see that the dead are decently interred and the places of burial suitably inclosed.

7. At the call for guard mounting the several guard details assemble on their respective regimental color lines, are carefully inspected, and then marched to the general parade ground by the first sergeant. Guards are to be mounted strictly in accordance with the Army Regulations, under the personal supervision of a brigade staff officer, and the several regimental adjutants are to alternate in mounting the guard. The guard-house of each brigade is to be 60 yards in front of the color-line and near the center of the brigade when the ground will admit of it. All calls are to be sounded at the brigade guard-house and promptly repeated at the several regimental headquarters.

8. The old guard, upon the next day after being relieved, is to be the general fatigue party for that day. Its duties are to clean thoroughly all the encampments, except the company grounds, and to perform such other labor as may be necessary.

A non-commissioned officer and a sufficient number of privates of each company are to be detailed daily as company police, and are to thoroughly clean their company grounds immediately after breakfast and again at 4.30 p.m. The commanding officer of each company inspects his company grounds immediately after the times above prescribed.

At these inspections the quarters are to be in perfect order, knapsacks properly packed, and bedding neatly folded, the occupants of each tent or hut remaining in front of the same during its inspection.

The brigade officer of the day is responsible for the due performance of all police and fatigue duty within or near his lines. He is specially charged with seeing that the sinks of regiments and offal pits of companies are properly placed and arranged and fresh earth thrown into them daily; that slaughter pens are kept at least half a mile from the camps and not near any thoroughfare, the offal there buried daily and the hides removed; that the wagon yards and other places of keeping animals are regularly and well policed, and that nothing offensive to decency or detrimental to health be anywhere visible.

9. At the signal for parade each company is formed on its own company grounds, under arms, and is thoroughly inspected by its officers. When the music begins playing the companies are marched in their proper order to the general parade, which is the color-line of each regiment.

10. At taps all lights except those of commissioned officers, non-commissioned staff, and first sergeants are to be extinguished, and there is to be perfect quiet in the encampment; one officer of each company remaining on duty in his company grounds for half an hour after taps, enforcing obedience to these requirements, and then reporting to the adjutant of the regiment. All lights, except those of the field and staff, are extinguished at 11 p.m.

11. Brigade, regimental, and company commanders are required to give close and constant attention to the quality and quantity of rations issued to their men and the preparation of the same as food. The various medical officers are to make frequent inspections of the issues of food and the cooking utensils, and offer such suggestions from time to time as may seem likely to promote the health of the command.

12. In each brigade, a brigade guard is detailed every day, consisting of the proper number of commissioned and non-commissioned officers and men, enough for a chain of sentinels entirely surrounding the brigade encampment, including the sinks, and, if practicable, the water.

Between daylight and dark officers wearing their side-arms are to pass the chain of sentinels of the brigade guard at will, and in this period enlisted men without arms and accouterments, having the written permission of the brigade commander, are allowed to pass the same chain of sentinels. But this does not authorize them to absent themselves from any duty whatever, nor to go more than 500 yards from their camps, unless they are general officers, brigade or regimental commanders, their staff officers, orderlies, or couriers, when on duty. Between dark and daylight the brigade guard challenges all persons attempting to pass the lines.

At all hours, whether by day or night, the brigade guard arrests all disorderly or suspicious persons. All citizens attempting to come within the lines will be sent to brigade headquarters. There is also a patrol in each brigade, moving day and night through the encampment, arresting suspicious persons, preventing nuisances, and suppressing all disorder.

13. From the divisions there is detailed daily, or at longer intervals as circumstances require, a picket guard, consisting of the proper number of commissioned and non-commissioned officers and men, enough to cover all approaches to the camp and keep up by day and night an efficient patrol between the several picket stations. It receives special instructions from time to time.

Each brigade officer of the day has immediate control over the pickets detailed from his brigade and is responsible for their due performance of duty.

14. Every detachment maintains such guards as will effectually preserve order and prevent surprise.

The smaller the body the greater the necessity for vigilance. While one relief of a guard is on post another sleeps. The other relief is at the guard-house awake and ready for any emergency. Officers and men detailed for guard duty are to take with them their blankets and cooked rations, and are not on any pretence to revisit their quarters until relieved, unless in the proper and necessary discharge of duty.

15. One of the commanding officers of each guard is required to visit all the sentinels of each relief, assuring himself that they know and correctly perform all their duties.

Brigade officers of the day are to visit their guards at least once before dark and once during the night, after 12 p.m., ascertaining that both officers and men are properly instructed and duly vigilant

All the guards, patrols, fatigue, and police parties of the command are under the general supervision and control of the division officer of the day, and he is responsible for their due performance of duty. He requires those under him to make written reports as soon as relieved, and forwards the same to division headquarters with such comments and suggestions as he may think expedient. He reports to the division commander in person when relieved, accompanied by the new division officer of the day.

16. A sentinel should always be ready to fire. He must, however, be sure of the presence of an enemy before firing; once satisfied of that he must fire at all hazards, as the safety of the command may depend upon it. Sentinels fire on all persons deserting to the enemy or breaking through the lines and failing to stop when ordered, and upon all persons whom it is their duty to arrest and who cannot otherwise be secured.

At the approach of officers or rounds of the guards a sentinel challenges as prescribed by the Army Regulations. In other cases he orders, "Halt! About face!" and calls the corporal of the guard, with the number of the post. Persons on horseback are to dismount when approaching sentinels.

Officers of guards are, required so to regulate the movements of the sentinels that they shall habitually turn on their posts at the same time, and all turn and move in the same direction.

Due honors are to be paid by guards and sentinels facing outward to salute, and acknowledged by the officers so complimented.

Proper salutations are always to be exchanged at meeting between officers, and between officers and privates.

17. All orders affecting the troops are to be read at the head of each company, that all may distinctly hear them.

The Rules and Articles of War of the Confederate States are to be read to each company immediately before or after each muster for pay. It is earnestly hoped that little or no cause will be given for enforcing the penalties therein pronounced against offenders; but all are distinctly notified and solemnly cautioned that serious violations of the same will be dealt with as therein provided, and no pardons granted.

18. A spirit of courtesy is to be cultivated, and harmony, devotion to the cause, obedience to superiors, and patient endurance of all hardships sought to be made the distinguishing characteristics of both officers and men. Language or conduct calculated to cause discontent among the troops is not to be tolerated, and in every instance the offender is to be put in arrest and brought to trial This is made the duty of all officers of the command.

The habit of entering private houses uninvited, begging food from private families, and otherwise lessening the comforts and increasing the burdens of the women and children of the country, is un-soldierly in the extreme. The practice of committing depredations upon private property is detestable. Officers of all grades are to be held strictly accountable for the conduct of their men in these respects, and all damages suffered by citizens are to be deducted from the offenders' pay.

Officers are reminded that assiduous attention to every duty is the sacred obligation resting on them: and that the censure of their own consciences and of their countrymen everywhere will assuredly follow them up during the war, and to the end of life, if they prove remiss in any respect. The test of their fidelity is in the condition of the troops which they command. Men well disciplined, well instructed, and well cared for point out the honest officer and true patriot. The reverse shows an officer unworthy of his position, and faithless to the cause.

By command of General Johnston:

GEORGE WM. BRENT, Assistant Adjutant-General.

From THE OFFICIAL RECORDS, SERIES I, VOLUME XXXII/2 [S# 58 pp. 530-535]