Summary:
Robert E. Lee's Adjutant, Robert Chilton, issues General Orders to the army in
November, 1862. The orders discuss suppression of gambling and supply
speculation by soldiers. It also announces that provost guards will be stationed
on trains to inspect soldier's passes. One of the affected routes will be the
train running from Richmond to Staunton and back.
November 14, 1862.
I. The general commanding is pained to learn that the vice of gambling exists, and is becoming common in this army. The regulations expressly prohibit one class of officers from indulging in this evil practice, and it was not supposed that a habit so pernicious and demoralizing would be found among men engaged in a cause, of all others, demanding the highest virtue and purest morality in its supporters. He regards it as wholly inconsistent with the character of a Southern soldier and subversive of good order and discipline in the army. All officers are earnestly enjoined to use every effort to suppress this vice, and the assistance of every soldier having the true interests of the army and of the country at heart is invoked to put an end to a practice which cannot fail to produce those deplorable results which have ever attended its indulgence in any society.
II. It has also been reported that some men in this army have been so unmindful of their obligations to their comrades, and of their own characters, as to engage in the occupation of purchasing supplies of food and other things, for the purpose of selling them at exorbitant prices to their fellow-soldiers, and it is not surprising that those who have descended to such conduct should be guilty of the crime of imposing on the humane and charitable for the purpose of carrying on their unworthy traffic. A just regard for the reputation of the army requires the immediate suppression of this great evil. It is, therefore, ordered that none but the regular sutlers or citizens having supplies of food or other lawful articles be allowed to engage in barter or trade with the officers and soldiers of this army. Cmdg. officers will give particular attention to the enforcement of this order, and cause every offender to be arrested and brought to trial, that he may receive such punishment as the court may impose.
III. Hereafter provost guards of an officer and three men will pass daily in the trains from Culpeper Court-House to Gordonsville and back, from Gordonsville to Lynchburg and back, from Richmond to Staunton and back. They will keep order among all military travelers, require from each and all the exhibition of authority upon which they are traveling, arrest all improperly absent from their commands, and turn them over, to be returned to the provost-marshal of the nearest post on the route of travel. The names of individuals arrested, with those of their regiments, companies, &c., with that of the provost-marshal to whom they were turned over, will be reported each trip to these headquarters. No leaves or furloughs to officers or men of this army are valid from this date, unless sanctioned by the commanding general. Staff officers, except those of the general staff attached to the army headquarters, must have the authority of division commanders when traveling on duty. These guards will be detailed by commanding officers at Culpeper Court-House, Gordonsville, and Richmond, and will take charge of all detachments sent from points on their route to this army, preventing delays by the way, and giving them proper directions to their commands. Under no circumstances will such guards interfere with the management of trains, being desired only for duties indicated, and, when called upon, to afford assistance to the conductor.
By command of Gen. R. E. Lee:
R. H. CHILTON,
Assistant Adjutant-Gen.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 19, Serial No. 28, Pages 722, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
