George G. Meade to Seth Williams, November 12, 1863

A perusal of the inclosed papers indicates the following :

1. The horses of the Cava ry Corps, Army of the Potomac, are in no small degree affected with diseases, and among them that of the feet and mouth. One remedy, and that used at the depot with success, is the chloride of antimony for sore feet, and a decoction of white-oak bark for the mouth; another is borax and alum, half and half, pulverized and mixed with sweet oil, and applied with a swab to the tongue, and still another is common salt (chloride of sodium crisped on a hot shovel and applied to the feet and mouth. A goo prevention is to give horses as much salt as they will eat.

2. The extraordinary amountof hard work the cavalry is called upon to perform incident either to the necessities of the case or to an improper use of that arm of the service.

3. The great deficiency of forage, Pauly hay. In one instance a whole division (the Second, General Gregg’s) has been twenty-one days without any hay. No horses, however good and bought at whatever price, can stand this kind of treatment in a region where but little, if any, grass can be procured.

4, A portion of the horses issued to the Army of the Potomac have been illy adapted to the cavalry service, being too young, unbroken, and unsound. Every effort is being made to remedy, and, as far as possible, to do away with this cause for complaint.

5. Horses which have become unserviceable and having been left behind in various movements of the army or having been sent into depot, have been reissued and sent into the field. It was expected that this would cause complaint, but the Government has these horses on hand, and unless they are disposed of, they must be either kept and fed at great expense or must be reissued for further use. A large portion of these broken-down horses have been during the past summer in a and have been recently collected together and put into stables and sheds, all of which are now full of them. They are divided into four classes, the fourth being considered fit for service, and from this class the best are selected and again ‘sent into the field. Each horse before he is turned over to be sent off is inspected to seeif he is affected with any disease, such as sore feet, sore tongue, glanders, farcy, distemper, &c., and none are allowed to leave that are so affected. If, after they have been issued and before they are sent off, any horses develop signs of disease, they are returned to the depot and others issued in their places, the object being to send the best there is and to make the most possible out of the 17,000 on hand on the last of October. But few of the horses purchased by the Cavalry Bureau have been sent to the Army of the Potomac, most of them having been sent to other armies and issued to new regiments, and, as far as is known, have given very general satisfaction.

6. It appears to be a question whether the men shall be sent into depot, either by regiments or in herds, to get their remounts and outfits, or whether the horses, &c., shall be sent tothe army in the field and there distributed. In this the commanding general must be the judge, and whatever his decisions may be they will meet with a

earty co-operation of the Cavalry Bureau, and every effort will be made to carry them out.

General Pleasonton’s opinions in regard to the discipline of the Dismounted Camp, and also in regard to the quality of the horses issued by the Cavalry Bureau, might possibly have more weight had they been founded in either case upon personal observation and inspection. The plan he proposes of having his own depots under his own supervision and within the actual limits of the army necessarily indicates that he contemplates that in future the Army of the Potomac shall remain stationary to protect them from Stuart, or that his depots shall be of a portable enacted and capable of being transported and taken with the army in its various and uncertain movements.

GEORGE STONEMAN, Major-General of Volunteers, Chief of Cavalry.

GENERAL ORDERS, l Hpgrs. ARMY OF THE Potomac, No. 100. ) November 5, 1863.

I. The following is the maximum allowance of transportation, camp and garrison equipage allowed this army while in the field engaged in active operations, and will be strictly conformed to, viz :

1. For the headquarters of an army corps, 2 wagons, or 8 packmules, for baggage; 1 two-horse spring wagon for contingent wants; use and office of commanding general; 1 wall tent for every 2 officers of his staff.

2. For the headquarters of a division, 1 wagon, or 5 pack-mules, for baggage; 1 two-horse spring wagon for contingent wants; 2 extra saddle horses for contingent wants; 1 wall tent for personal use and one of commanding general; 1 wall tent for every 2 officers of his staff.

3. For the Henan ene of a brigade, 1 wagon, or 5 pack-mules, for baggage; 1 wall tent for personal use and office of commanding general; 1 wall tent for every 2 officers of his staff.

4, To every 3 company officers, when detached or serving without wagons, 1 pack-mule; to every 12 company officers, when detached, to any headquarters, 1 pack-mule; to every 10 staff officers, serving similarly, 1 wagon, or 4 pack-mules.

The above wagons and pack-mules will include transportation for all personal baggage, mess chests, cooking utensils, desks, papers, &c. The weight of officers’ baggage in the field, specified by Army Regulations, will be reduced so as to bring it within the foregoing schedule. All excess of transportation now with army corps, divisions, brigades, regiments, or batteries over the allowance herein prescribed will be immediately turned in to the quartermaster’s department, to be used in the trains.

5. Commissary stores and forage will be transported by the trains.

When these are not convenient of access, and where troops act in detachments, the quartermaster’s department will assign wagons or pack animals for that purpose; but the baggage of officers, or of troops, or camp equipage, will not be carried in the wagons or on the pack animals so assigned. The assignment of transportation for ammunition, hospital stores, subsistence, and forage, will be made on the basis of the amount of each ordered to be carried in orders from general headquarters. The number of wagons is hereinafter prescribed, required by existing orders, to wit:

6. For each full regiment of infantry and cavalry of 1,000 men, for baggage, camp equipage, &c., 6 wagons; for each regiment of infantry less than 700 men and more than 500 men, 5 wagons; for each regiment of infantry less than 500 men and more than 300 men, 4 wagons; for each regiment of infantry less than 300 men, 3 wagons; for each regiment of infantry and cavalry, 3 wall tents for field and staff, 1 shelter tent for every other commissioned officer, 1 shelter tent for every 2 non-commissioned officers, soldiers, servants, and camp followers.

7. For each battery of 4 and 6 guns, for personal baggage, mess chests, cooking utensils, desks, papers, &c., 1 and 2 wagons, respectively; for each 6-gun battery, 3 wall tents for officers; for each 4-gun battery, 2 wall tents for officers; shelter tents, same allowance as for infantry and cavalry regiments.

8. For artillery ammunition trains, the number of wagons will be determined and assigned upon the following rules: Multiply the number of 12-pounder guns by 122 and divide by 112; multiply the number of rifled guns by 50 and divide by 140; multiply the number of 20-pounder guns by 2; multiply the number of 43-inch guns by 23; multiply the number of rifled guns in horse batteries by 100 and divide by 140. For the general supply train of reserve ammunition of 20 rounds to each gun in the army, to be kept habitually with Artillery Reserve, the following formula will apply: Multiply the number of 12-pounder guns by 20, divide by 112—number of wagons; multiply the number of rifled guns by 20, divide by 140—number of wagons. Toevery 1,000 men, cavalry and infantry, for small-arm ammunition, 5 wagons; for Artillery Reserve, for carrying fuses, primers, and powder, 2 wagons.

9. The supply trains will be as follows: To each 1,000 men, cavalry and infantry, for forage, quartermaster’s stores, subsistence, &c., 7 wagons; to each cavalry Arccicn for carrying forage for cavalry horses, 30 wagons additional; to each battery, for carrying its proportion of subsistence, forage, &c., 3 wagons; to each horse battery, for the same purpose, 4 wagons; to every 25 wagons of the artillery ammunition train there will be allowed 5 wagons additional for carrying forage for animals of ammunition and additional wagons, baggage, camp equipage, and subsistence of wagon-masters and teamters. Nothing but ammunition will be carried in the artillery ammunition train. The baggage of the drivers of the wagon composing it will be carried in the additional wagons allowed for that purpose, ‘

To each 1,500 men, cavalry and infantry, for hospital supplies, 3 wagons; to each brigade of artillery, for hospital supplies, 1 wagon; to each army corps, except the cavalry, for intrenching tools, &c., 6 wagons; to each corps headquarters, for the carrying of subsistence, forage, and other stores not provided for herein, 3 wagons; to each division headquarters, for similar purposes as above, 2 wagons; to each brigade headquarters, for similar purposes as above, 1 wagon; to each brigade of cavalry, artillery, and infantry, for commissary stores for sales to officers, 1 wagon; to each division of cavalry and infantry, for hauling forage for ambulance animals, portable forges, &c., 2 wagons; to each division, cavalry and infantry, for carrying armorer’s tools, parts of muskets, extra arms, and accouterments, 1 wagon. It is expected that each ambulance and each wagon, excepting those of the artillery ammunition train, will carry the necessary forage for its own team.

10. If corps, division, and brigade commanders take their guards or escorts from commands already furnished with the full allowance of transportation, a corresponding amount should be taken with them to headquarters; but if they have not been provided for at all, then a proper number of wagons will be transferred by the depot quartermaster, on the requisition of the chief quartermaster, certified to and approved by the commanding general. Asa rule, neither quartermaster nor commissary sergeants will be allowed to ride public horses.

I. I. It has been decided that there is no advantage to the service, commensurate with the expense, in keeping up regularly organized pack trains with mules independent of the wagons. All packsaddles now on hand will be carried in the wagons of the ammunition and supply trains, not to exceed 2 to a wagon.

When it becomes necessary to pack officer’s baggage, rations, or ammunition for short distances over rough roadsand broken country, pack trains can be made up temporarily by taking mules from the wagons, not to exceed 2 to any 1 wagon.

There will be allowed to each corps 50 extra mules, to supply losses on marches and for packing.

The following modification of Paragraph 1121, Revised Arm Regulations, approved by the War Department, General-in-Chief, Quartermaster-General, and the general commanding, is hereby established, as far as relates to this army, and will be observed until otherwise ordered :

The maximum allowance of forage per day will be, for horses, 10 pounds hay and 14 pounds grain; for mules, 10 pounds hay and 11 pounds grain, and when short forage only can be procured, 18 pounds of grain for horses and 15 pounds of grain for mules can be issued as the daily ration.

When the army is on the march, the above order will not apply. The wagons will carry only the marching ration (10 pounds average to each animal per day).

This increased allowance of grain is intended to be fed only when the animals are at rest, after long marches, to recuperate them, and when hay cannot be procured.

III. Private property shall not be taken, except when required for the public service, and then only on the written order of the general commanding the army, a general commanding a corps, or other independent commander.

A copy of the order and receipts for the property taken must be left with the owner thereof, al a report of all propert captured from the enemy, or seized for the public service, wil! be made monthly to the chief of the department, at these headquarters, to which it appertains.

By command of Major-General Meade: