CHAPTER XLVI. AN ENLARGED COMMAND.-MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI. GENERAL GRANT, as soon as he was able to move, began his voyage up the Mississippi River, agreeably to the orders from Washington. On his road he stopped at the principal dépôts of his troops along the Mississippi, and arranged for their departure eastward, at such proper times as would enable them to form a combination with the forces at Chattanooga. While at Vicksburg, General Grant was determined that his men should be paid, and issued an order to that effect. It was also necessary for him to make a tariff of rates to prevent impositions being practised upon the war-ruined people of the Southwest. The exorbitant prices of passage on the Mississippi River called forth from department nead-quarters the last paragraph of the following order in relation to river matters: HEAD-QUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE, [General Orders, No. 59.] I. All enlisted men on detached service, in army corps other than that in which their regiments, detachments, or companies are serving, except those detailed by orders from department head-quarters, as nurses in general hospitals and hospital steamers, and clerks in staff departments, are hereby relieved from such detached service, and will report to their respective commands for duty. Army Corps commanders will see that this order is carried into immediate execution. II. Company and regimental commanders will furnish to the officer in charge of men of their respective commands, absent in hospitals or at parole camps, proper descriptive lists and accounts of pay and clothing, to enable them to draw their pay. Such descriptive lists must contain the name, rank, description, where born, occupation, when, where, and by whom enrolled or enlisted, when, where, by whom, and for what period mustered, by what paymaster, and to what time last paid, the bounty paid and amount still due, and the amount due, to or from him, for clothing, with the proper remarks showing his military history, etc. Descriptive lists showing less than this are valueless. Hereafter no enlisted man will be sent from his company or regiment without such descriptive list as is herein required being furnished to the proper officer in charge, and any neglect to comply with this order will subject the offender to trial by court-mar tial and dismissal from the service. It will be the duty of all officers of the Inspector-General's Department to properly inspect and report any neglect of duty in this particular.* III. Army Corps commanders will announce in general orders the acting assistant inspectors-general of districts, divisions, and brigades within their respective corps, and will authorize them to make inspections and recommend the disposal of unserviceable property, in accordance with army regulations and orders. So much of paragraph third of General Orders, No. 30, current series, from these head-quarters, as requires the acting assistant inspectorsgeneral of districts, divisions, and brigades, to report direct to the Assistant Inspector-General at department head-quarters, is revoked, and all reports required by army regulations and existing orders will be forwarded through the proper military channels. IV. So much of General Orders, No. 49, current series, from these head-quarters, as establishes the rates of transportation and subsistence of commissioned officers travelling on steamboats within this department, is hereby revoked, and in lieu thereof is substituted the rates of military transportation and subsistence established by Colonel Lewis B. Parsons, Assistant-Quartermaster and General Superintendent of Transportation at St. Louis, Mo., August 1st, 1863, viz. : TO OR FROM ST. LOUIS TO THE FOLLOWING PLACES: Cairo to Columbus.. Memphis Helena.. .$4 Vicksburg. .10 Port Hudson. .12 New Orleans. .$16 18 20 *General Grant was determined that soldiers should not lose their pay through the carelessness of their officers. And to or from all intermediate points at like rates in proportion to distance transported. Enlisted men will be entitled to travel as cabin passengers, when they desire it, at same rates. By order of Major-General U. S. GRANT. JOHN A. RAWLINS, Brig.-Gen. and A. A.-G. General Grant, before he left the Department of the Ten nessee, regulated the military civic jurisdiction over the conquered region around Vicksburg. The administration of the city was excellent, and the numerous secessionists still remaining there were kept strictly on their good behavior in dread of "exile," as they considered the operation of sending them to their friends within the rebel lines. The following officers composed the administration :-District Commander, Major-General James B. McPherson; Post Commander, Major-General John A. Logan; District Provost-Marshal, Lieutenant-Colonel James Wilson; Post Provost-Marshal, LieutenantColonel Waddell. As a reward for special bravery General Grant instituted the "Insignia of Honor" for the Seventeenth Corps. The design of the medals was a blending of the crescent, a star and a shield; the base being formed of the crescent, to the two extremities of which was fixed the star, while pendant from its lower point was suspended a shield. Upon the crescent the words "Vicksburg, July 4, 1863." The object in the presentation of these badges was to reward the meritorious members of the Seventeenth Corps for conspicuous valor on the field of battle or endurance in the march. This famous corps since its organization had been foremost in duty and deeds of glory throughout the entire campaign against Vicksburg, and no better method could have been adopted to continue in the future the same excellent spirit of emulation for which it has always been celebrated, both on the part of officers and men. The following General Order was issued by the Corps commander, at the instigation of General Grant, in relation to the distribution of these badges: HEAD-QUARTERS, SEVENTEENTH ARMY CORPS, [General Orders, No. 30.] I. In order to encourage and reward the meritorious and faithful officers and men of this corps, a "Medal of Honor," with appropriate device, has been prepared, and will be presented by a "Board of Honor," of which the Major-General commanding is the advisory member, to all those who, by their gallantry in action and other soldierlike qualities, have most distinguished themselves, or who may hereafter most distinguish themselves, during the war. II. The following officers will constitute the "Board of Honor" hereby appointed: Major-General John A. Logan, commanding Third Division. Brigadier-General John McArthur, commanding First Division. Brigadier-General John E. Smith, commanding Second Division. Brigadier-General M. M. Crocker, commanding Fourth Division. Brigadier-General T. E. G. Ransom, commanding Second Brigade, First Division. Brigadier-General M. M. Force, commanding Second Brigade, Third Division. Brigadier-General W. Q. Gresham, commanding Third Brigade, Fourth Division. Brigadier-General Alex. Chambers, commanding Third Brigade, First Division. Colonel Gabriel Bouck, Eighteenth Wisconsin Infantry. Lieutenant-Colonel A. M. Powell, Chief of Artillery. III. Company commanders will forward to the commanding officer of their regiment a list of the names of the non-commissioned officers and men of their command whom they deem entitled to receive the "medal," accompanied by a full and complete statement of facts to guide the "Board" in their award. These lists will be revised by the regimental commander, who will forward them, with his remarks, to the commanding officer of the brigade. IV. Regimental commanders will send similar lists of those officers of their command whom they believe entitled to the "medal," to the brigade commander, who, after revising the whole, will send them direct to the President of the "Board." V. The "Board of Honor" will be convened upon the order of the President, at such times and places as he may direct, and they are empowered to make all needful rules and regulations for the attainment of the object of this order-the just and impartial award to the most deserving of the "Medal of Honor." By order of W. T. CLARK, A. A.-G. Major-General JAS. B. MCPHERSON. After the repulse of the forces at Chickamauga in front of Chattanooga, important movements of troops commenced from General Grant's department toward that place. All of General Sherman's Fifteenth Army Corps, excepting General Tuttle's Division, was transported from Vicksburg to the line of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. On Saturday, October 10th, General Osterhaus's Division entered Iuka. No considerable body of rebels were encountered anywhere on the march between Iuka and Corinth. The rebel cavalry were seen hovering on the Union flank and front continually, although they gave but little trouble or uneasiness. A reconnoissance was made on October 11th by two regiments of infantry, a section of artillery, and one company of cavalry, and revealed a battalion of cavalry at the crossing of Bear Creek, five miles east of Iuka. In the mean time, it was known by the rebels that General Sherman was at Memphis, and intended to pass over the Memphis and Charleston Railroad to Chattanooga. A body of rebel cavalry and infantry therefore concentrated at Wyeth, a small village on the Tallahatchie, where were located the head-quarters of Colonel Chalmers. This force was further increased by the addition of a number of conscripts. Having thus gathered all the numbers they could. in the country, Chalmers found himself at the head of |