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GENERAL ORDERS,

HDQRS. FOURTH DIV., 15TH ARMY CORPS, Numbers 17.

Rome, Ga., November 10, 1864.

I. In compliance with instructions from headquarters Military DIVISION of the Mississippi, this command will move from Rome in the following order:

THIRD Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel F. J. Hurlbut commanding, will at 3 p. m. move out about four miles on the Kingston road, and bivouac for the night, so picketing the roads as to protect the DIVISION supply train and Battery H, First Missouri Light Artillery, Lieutenant Brunner commanding, both of which will follow him and park near his command. The first Alabama Cavalry, Colonel George E. Spencer commanding, with the Ninth Illinois Mounted Infantry, Lieutenant Colonel S. T. Hughes commanding, will move to-morrow (the 11th instant) at 4 a. m., with their trains, beyond Kingston, and go into bivouac beyond infantry camp of Fourteenth Corps near Kingston. The THIRD Brigade will follow the cavalry as soon as the latter has cleared the road; the battery and supply train will follow the THIRD Brigade. The Second Brigade, Colonel R. N. Adams commanding, will move on the Kingston road in rear of the DIVISION supply train at 6 a. m. The pioneer corps and ambulance train will accompany the Second Brigade. The First Brigade, Brigadier General E. W. Rice commanding, will take up the line of march as soon as the road is clear.

II. Post commandant, Major E. S. Johnson, all officers and enlisted men on post duty, are hereby relived, and will report to their respective commanding officers.

III. The defenses of Rome will be destroyed and the forts dismantled, under the supervision of Lieutenant William Ludlow, U. S. Engineer Corps. Captain Burnham, provost-marshal, aided by Captain Longstreth, of the pioneer corps, and the FIFTY-second Illinois Infantry, is hereby ordered of effectually destroy all the machinery in the foundries, mills, and factories, also to burn all bridges, foundries, mills, workshops, ware-houses, railroad depots, and other store-houses, convenient to the railroad, together with all the wagon-shops, tanneries, and other factories that may prove useful to the enemy, after which the FIFTY-second Illinois will clear the town of all soldiers, and destroy all barracks, tents, and Government property the command has not been able to remove, closing up the rear, reporting to General Rice at or near Kingston.

IV. Surgeon in charge of general hospitals, Surg. J. H. Grove; the post quartermaster, Captain A. Kingsbury; DIVISION quartermaster, H. R. Benjamin; DIVISION commissary, Lieutenant A. T. Andreas; post and DIVISION ordnance officer, Lieutenant J. T. Larkin, will designate to the provost-marshal for destruction such public property as they have not been able to procure transportation for which may be of use to the enemy.

V. All pickets and grand guards will be withdrawn by and under direction of Captain B. S. Barbour, chief of outposts.

The general commanding calls the attention of all officers to the necessity of enforcing the most rigid discipline, in order to prevent straggling, pillaging, marauding, and the evils attendant upon the evacuation of an important town.

The provost-marshal and officers of the rear guard will exercise the severest and most summary means to prevent disorder, and will not hesitate to shoot any one caught firing private houses or pillaging in offensive or helpless families.

By order of Brigadier General John M. Course:

A. P. VAUGHAN,

Lieutenant and Acting Aide-de-Camp.

HDQRS. MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI,

In the Field, Kingston, Ga., November 10, 1864.

Colonel SPENCER, Rome:

You have known for ten days that Rome was to be evacuated, and have no right to appeal to my humanity. You have neglected to care for those families, and I am not going to regulate the movements of an army by your neglect and want of foresight.

W. T. SHERMAN,

Major-General.