Army of the Potomac - Burial Order

Item DOC-7209

Description

Original Civil War Document. War dated and written in period ink.

Headquarters, Army of the Potomac

December 5th 1864
Special Order No. 329 (Extract)

Thirteen Corps and other independent Commanders will at once cause all their burial grounds to be securely fenced in. Each Division and independent command should have a separate lot for the interment of its dead, and all isolated bodies of deceased soldiers will be disinterred with as little delay as practicable and reinterred in the burial ground of the Division or independent command to which they belonged.

Durable head boards with the proper inscriptions will be placed over all graves. The inscriptions upon the head boards of graves will give the name, rank, company and regiment of the deceased soldier. Care will be taken to have all inscriptions legibly made, and in such a manner that they will not readily be affected by the weather. Where inscriptions are becoming obliterated, that will be renewed.

Soldiers dying in Division Hospitals will be interred in the burial ground of their Division.

The attention of all Commanders is called to General Order No. 75 of September 11th 1861 and paragraph II of General Order No. 33 of April 3rd 1862 from the War Department on the subject.

By Command of Major General Meade
(Sgd) S. Williams
Assistant Adjutant General

Official
(sgd) John C. Youngman
Assistant Adjutant General

Official
(sgd) Robert A. Hutchins
A.A. General

Official
(sgd) Thomas Mathews
Captain and A. A. A. General


Headquarters, Army of the Potomac

December 5th 1864

Special Orders No. 329 (Extract)

Ordering each division to have a separate burying lot and to have all their dead buried in that lot, ordering head boards with the name and regiment and company of the soldier printed on it the best manner possible.

From Kirk W. Noyes
Late 1st Lieutenant and Acting Adjutant
1st Regiment U. S. S. Volunteers

Document signed by :
* Major General Seth Williams, US Volunteers
* 1st Lieutenant Kirk W. Noyes, 1st Michigan Sharpshooters (Wounded 3 times)
* Captain John C. Youngman, 51st Pennsylvania Infantry & US Volunteers
* Major Thomas Mathews, 17th Michigan Infantry
* Major Robert A. Hutchins, US Volunteers