Series 1, vol 38, Part 4 (The Atlanta Campaign)page 543
SPECIAL
HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION FIELD ORDERS,
OF THE MISSISSIPPI, Numbers 27.
In the Field, Big Shanty, Ga., June 20, 1864.
I. General McPherson will call forward from Huntsville the division of John E. Smith, to report to General Steedman and to be posted at Kingston and along the railroad. He will also dispatch the First Alabama Cavalry to Rome, to scout across toward Guntersville and Gadsden, subject to the orders of the post and district commanders.
II. General Thomas will furnish General Steedman a detail of 1,000 men, to be organized as train guard, and as soon as John E. Smith reaches Kingston he may relieve the detachments now there.
III. There is abundance of fine forage and grass in the valleys of the Etowah and Oostenaula, and army commanders will collect all the stock, horses, mules, &c., that are useless to this army and a tax on its forage, and send them to one or other of the detachments guarding the railroad. No forage should be issued to horses at the front, unless they are good artillery and cavalry horses, or the horses of officers whose duties require them to be mounted. The special attention of quartermasters and inspectors-general is called to this subject.
By order of Major General W. T. Sherman:
L. M. DAYTON,
Aide-de-Camp.