SPECIAL FIELD ORDERS,
ROSWELL BRIDGE, GA., Numbers 69.
July 16, 1864.
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VII. In order to carry out the spirit and intention of Special Field Orders, Numbers 35, headquarters Military Division of the Mississippi, the following movements will take place:
1. The Fifteenth Army Corps, Major General John A. Logan commanding, will move out from its present position at 5.30 a. m. to-morrow on the road leaving to Cross Keys, following this road to a point near Providence Church, where he will take a left-hand road (sometimes called the upper Decatur road) and proceed on this until he reaches Nancy’s Creek, where he will take up a good position on each side of the road and go into bivouac.
2. The Left Wing, Sixteenth Army Corps, Major General G. M. Dodge commanding, will follow immediately after the Fifteenth Corps on the Cross Keys road to Nancy’s Creek, where he will take up a good position on each side of the road and go into bivouac. He will direct the Ninth Illinois Mounted Infantry to feel out from his right for Major-General Schofield’s command, and will endeavor to keep open a line of communication by means of vedettes. The pickets of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Corps should connect.
3. Major General F. P. Blair, on his arrival at the bridge with his command, will follow the rest of the army, and report to the major-general commanding for special instructions.
4. Brigadier-General Garrard, commanding cavalry division, will move his command at 5.30 a. m. to-morrow, crossing McAfee’s Bridge, and will push out to the vicinity of Buchanan’s, near the headwaters of Nancy’s Creek, and take up a position covering the roads to his left and front. He will also feel to the right and open communication with the Fifteenth Army Corps. He will also leave a sufficient guard for McAfee’s Bridge, and one regiment to be stationed near Roswell to form part of the guard for trains and to patrol the country in the vicinity. The trains will be compactly parked, in the most secure position which can be found, as near the bridge as practicable.
5. Each corps commander will leave one good regiment of infantry to form the guard for the train. The regiment from the Sixteenth Corps will take post at the bridge on the west side, and the other two regiments, one from the Fifteenth and one from the Seventeenth, will remain immediately with the trains.
6. Great vigilance must be exercised by the guard to prevent the train from being surprised by the enemy’s cavalry.
7. All wagons and incumbrances not needed for battle must be left behind.
8. The supply train of the cavalry division will be parked with the infantry trains.
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By order of Major General James B. McPherson:
WM. T. CLARK,
Assistant Adjutant-General.