Camp and Outpost Duty for Infantry

Head-quarters 3d Brigade, Porter's Division, \
3d Army Corps, Army of the Potomac.

GEN. F. J. PORTER: GENERAL,-Agreeably to your recommendation, I inclose herewith my only copy of the instructions I had prepared for the "Outpost Duty" for my brigade. . . . . . If it is deemed desirable, I will prepare the Chapter on Provost Guard Duty for Regimental and Brigade Provosts; also a small article on the Duties of Regimental and Brigade Field-officers of the Day, and submit them for approval. . I am, very respectfully, your DANIEL BUTTERFIELD, Brig. Gen.

obedient servant,

Respectfully forwarded to Head-quarters, Army of the Potomac, with the recommendation that this system be examined, and, if approved, either printed, or General Butterfield be authorized to do so for the Army. His little work I regard of great value; and the other articles he refers to I would suggest be prepared and presented for consideration. If as good as this, they will be of great value to the Army.

F. J. PORTER, Brig. Gen. Commanding.

Head-quarters Army of the Potomac. Respectfully returned to Brig. Gen. F. J. Porter.

The commanding general has examined the system presented, and highly approves it.

He desires the Chapter on Provost Guard Duty and the Duty of Regimental and Brigade Field-officers of the Day to be prepared and appended, as proposed by Gen. Butterfield, when he will be glad to forward the manuscript to the War Department with the recommendation that the systems be adopted for the governance of the Army in the matters concerned, and will ask the Department to have the same printed for the proper circulation. By command of Major General M'Clellan.

S. WILLIAMS, Assistant Adjutant General.

DEAR GENERAL,-I owe you a thousand apologies for detaining your manuscript on Picket System; but I was so struck with its completeness and simplicity that I could not forego copying it for my own conduct. At the same time, I entreat you to lose no time in publishing it at once. Please subscribe for me $100 in copies, when or how it may appear. Very respectfully and sincerely yours,

P. KEARNEY, Brig. Gen. Comdg. Division.

Brig. Gen. BUTTERFIELD, 3d Brigade, Porter's Division.

Head-quarters 5th Army Corps. Respectfully forwarded, earnestly recommending that the pamphlet prepared by General Butterfield, with the additional

articles on Duties of Officers of the Day, Guard, Provost Guards, etc., be published by authority, and freely circulated throughout the companies of each regiment, at the earliest possible moF. J. PORTER, Maj. Gen. Commanding.

ment.

Head-quarters Army of the Potomac. Respectfully forwarded, with full concurrence in General Porter's recommendation.

GEORGE B. M'CLELLAN, Maj. Gen. Commanding.

BRIG. GEN. D. BUTTERFIELD:

DEAR GENERAL,-I have read your work on the Duties of Outposts, and of those of the officers responsible for their conduct and instruction, with great satisfaction. No suggestion of mine can add to its completeness. You should receive the thanks of every officer of the Army for your services in the preparation and publication of this truly valuable work.

At the opening of the campaign, as you well know, we had as many different systems of doing picket duty as there were divisions in the Army, many of which were highly defective, and none so perfect as yours.

I shall be rejoiced to learn that the government adopts it as its standard work on this subject, and still more that it is placed within the reach of all to read and study it.

Truly yours,

JOSEPH HOOKER, Maj. Gen.

U.S. Military Academy, West Point. MY DEAR SIR,-Your letter, with its inclosures, came to hand yesterday, under the accompanying frank. I fully appreciate the compliment you have paid me in submitting your MS. to my inspection; but, with such endorsements as it bears, from Generals M'Clellan and Porter, it was rather a work of supererogation to seek for any other imprimatur. I have read it carefully, and have marked some paragraphs by marginal letters in pencil, and have appended some notes to the references, not ex cathedra, but as suggestions.*

I am glad to see instructions of this valuable character at last made accessible, like the Extracts from the Army Regula. tions you have kindly sent me, to every private soldier. Could they have been earlier inculcated and enforced, many valuable lives would have been saved, as well as many disgraceful captures have been avoided. . . . . .

Very respectfully and truly yours,

D. H. MAHAN.

To Gen. DANIEL BUTTERFIELD, Army of the Potomac.

* These notes are inserted in the text of the book.

"The safety of an army in an enemy's country materially depends on the manner in which the outpost duty is performed. The Outposts, Pickets, and Advanced Sentries are the WATCHDOGS of the army, whose peculiar business is to detect and give timely warning of the approach of an enemy, as well as every circumstance which may appear to threaten its safety. An officer in command of an outpost should invariably act as if the safety of the whole army depended on his individual vigilance, and he should impress the same feeling of responsibility on the mind of every one of his sentries. The Advanced Guard of a column of march serves the same purpose for that column as the outposts serve for an army in position. An officer is not worthy of the name who, in command of an outpost, does not feel that the safety of the whole army may depend on his individual vigilance, who neglects any possible expedient to strengthen his post, and who does not make himself thoroughly acquainted with the ground to a considerable distance around it, asking himself frequently what he should do if attacked.". MACDOUGALL.