Author: (GENERAL ORDERS -- CIVIL WAR -- MINNESOTA). TOWNSEND, E.D.
Title: General Orders, No. 184
Description: Washington, DC, War Department, Adjutant General's Office, 1863. 16mo. Self-cover. 8pp. Near fine. Binding traces at gutter (not affecting text). This lengthy and fascinating General Order chronicles the Fort Snelling court martial trial of Captain James Starkey of the 1st Minnesota Mounted Rangers, charged with "Making false muster," "Willingly signing muster rolls containing false musters," "Making false return to his superior officer of the state of his Company" and "Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman." Each charge is elaborated in great detail. Starkey was found guilty of most of the charges and sentenced "To be cashiered, and to be forever disqualified from holding any office of trust or profit under the Government of the United States" -- this latter sentence commuted by President Lincoln, who always believed in giving someone a second chance. Signed in type at the conclusion by Townsend as Assistant Adjutant General. General Orders were usually made in modest quantities for distribution to the various army commands, where the company clerks would collect them (hence the occasional file holes). A great many were destroyed during the course of the war, and original examples of most survive in surprisingly few copies. .

Keywords: CIVIL WAR


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