ARTICLE XXXIII. GUARDS.

399. Sentinels will be relieved every two hours, unless the state of the weather, or other causes, should make it necessary or proper that it be done at shorter or longer intervals.

400. Each relief, before mounting, is inspected by the commander of the guard or of its post. The Corporal reports to him, and presents the old relief on its return.

401. The countersign, or watchword, is given to such persons as are entitled to pass during  the night, and  to officers, non-commissioned officers, and sentinels of the guard. Interior guards receive the countersign only when ordered by the commander of the troops.

402  The parole is imparted to such officers only as have a right to visit the guards, and to make the grand rounds; and to officers commanding guards.

403. As soon as the new guard has been marched off, the officer of the day will repair to the office of the commanding officer and report for orders.

404. The officer of the day must see that the officer of the guard is furnished with the parole and countersign before retreat.

405. The officer of the day visits the guards during the day at such times as he may deem necessary, and makes his rounds at night at least once after 12 o’clock.

406. Upon being relieved, the officer of the day will make such remarks in the report of the officer of the guard as circumstances require, and present the same at head-quarters.

407. Commanders of guards leaving their posts to visit their sentinels, or on other duty, are to mention their intention, and the probable time of their absence, to the next in command.

408. The officers are to remain constantly at their guards, except while visiting their sentinels, or necessarily engaged elsewhere on their proper duty.

409. Neither officers nor soldiers are to take off their clothing or  accoutrements while they are on guard.

410. The officer of the guard must see that the countersign is duly communicated to the sentinels a little before twilight.

411. When a fire breaks out, or any alarm is raised in a garrison, all guards are to be immediately under arms.

412. Inexperienced officers are put on guard as supernumeraries, for the purpose of instruction

413. Sentinels will not take orders or allow themselves to be relieved, except by an officer or non-commissioned officer of their guard or party, the officer of the day, or the commanding officer; in which case the orders will be immediately notified to the commander of the guard by the officer giving them.

414. Sentinels will report every breach of orders or regulations they are instructed to enforce.

415. Sentinels must keep themselves on the alert, observing every thing that takes place within sight and hearing of their post. They will carry their arms habitually at support, or on either shoulder, but will never quit them.  In wet weather if there be no sentry-box, they will secure arms.

Duties of Sentinels.

416. No sentinel shall quit his post or hold conversation not necessary to the proper discharge of his duty.

417. All persons, of whatever rank in the service, are required to observe respect toward sentinels.

18. In case of disorder, a sentinel must call out the guard; and if a fire take place, he must cry; “Fire!” adding the number of his post. If in either case the danger be great, he must discharge his firelock before calling out.

419. It is the duty of a sentinel to repeat all calls made from posts more distant from the main body of the guard than his own, and no sentinel will be posted so distant as not to be heard by the guard, either directly or through other sentinels.

120. Sentinels will present arms to general and field officers, to the officer of the day, and to the commanding officer of the post. To all other officers they will carry arms. 

421. When a sentinel in his sentry-box sees an officer approaching, he will stand at attention, and as the officer passes will salute him, by bringing the left hand briskly to the musket, as high as the right shoulder.

422. The sentinel at any post of the guard, when he sees any body o! troops, or an officer entitled to compliment, approach, must call-“ Turn out the guard!” and announce who approaches.

423. Guards do not turn out as a matter of compliment after sunset,; but sentinels will, when officers in uniform approach, pay them proper attention, by facing to the proper front, and standing steady at shouldered arms.  This will be observed until the evening is so far advanced that the sentinels begin challenging.

424. After retreat (or the hour appointed by the commanding officer), until broad daylight, a sentinel challenges every person who approaches him, taking, at the same time, the position of arms port.  He will suffer no person to come nearer than within reach of his bayonet, until the person has given the countersign.

425. A  sentinel, in challenging, will call out; “Who comes there?” If answered-“ Friend, with the countersign,” and he be instructed to pass persons with the countersign, he will reply-“Advance, friend, with the countersign!”  If answered-“Friends!” he  will reply-“ Halt, friends! Advance one with the countersign!”  If answered-“ Relief,” “ Patrol,” or “ Grand rounds,” he will reply-“ Halt! Advance, Sergeant (or Corporal), with the countersign!” and satisfy himself that the warty is what it represents itself to be. If he have no authority to pass persons with the countersign, if the wrong countersign be given, or if the persons have not the countersign, he will cause them to stand, and call-“ Corporal of the guard!”

426. In the daytime, when the sentinel before the guard sees the officer of the day approach, he will call-“ Turn out the guard! Officer of the day.” The guard will be paraded, and salute with presented arms 

427. When any person approaches a post of the guard at night, the sentinel before the post, after challenging, causes him to halt until examined by a non-commissioned officer of the guard. If it be the officer of the day, or any other officer entitled to inspect the guard and to make the rounds, the non-commissioned officer will call-“ Turn out the guard!” when the guard will be paraded at shouldered arms, and the officer of the guard, if he thinks necessary, may demand the countersign and parole. 

428. The officer of the day, wishing to make the rounds, will take an escort of a non-commissioned officer and two men. When the rounds are challenged by a sentinel, the Sergeant will answer-“ Grand rounds!” and the sentinel will reply-“ -Halt, grand rounds! Advance, Sergeant, with the countersign!” Upon which the Sergeant advances and gives the countersign.  The sentinel will then cry-“ Advance, rounds!” and stand at a shoulder till they have passed.

429. When the sentinel before the guard challenges, and 18 answered “ Grand rounds,” he will reply-“ Halt, grand rounds!   Turn out the guard; grand rounds!”  Upon which the guard will be drawn up at shouldered arms. The officer commanding the guard will then order a Sergeant and two men to advance; when within ten paces, the Sergeant challenges.   The  Sergeant of the grand rounds  answers-“ Grand rounds!”  The Sergeant of the guard replies-“ Advance,  Sergeant, with the countersign!” The Sergeant of the rounds advances alone, gives the countersign, and returns to his round. The Sergeant of the guard calls to his officer-“ The countersign is right!” on which the officer of the guard calls-“Advance, rounds!”  The officer of the rounds then advances alone, the guard standing at shouldered arms. The officer of the rounds passes along the front of the guard to the officer, who keeps his post on the right, and gives him the parole. He then examines the guard, orders back his escort, and, taking a new one, proceeds in the same manner to other guards.

430. All material instructions given to a sentinel on post by persons entitled to make grand rounds, ought to be promptly notified to the commander of the guard.

431. Any General officer, or the commander of a post or garrison, may visit the guards of his command, and go the grand rounds, and be received in the same manner as prescribed for the officer of the day.

ARTICLE XXXIV. ORDERS AND CORRESPONDENCE.

432. The orders of commanders of armies, divisions, brigades, regiments, are denominated orders of such army, division, &c., and are either general or special. Orders are numbered, general and special, in separate series, each beginning with the year.

433. General orders announce the time and place of issues and payments; hours for roll-calls and duties; the number and kind of orderlies, and the time when they shall be relieved; police regulations, and the prohibitions required by circumstances and localities; returns to be made, and their forms; laws and regulations for the army; promotions and appointments; eulogies or censures to corps or individuals, and generally, whatever it may be important to make known to the whole command.

434. Special orders are such as do not concern the troops generally, and need not be published to the whole command; such as relate to the march of some particular corps, the establishment of some post, the detaching of individuals, the granting requests, &c., &c.

435. A  general order, and an important special order, must be read and approved by the officer whose order it is, before it is issued by the staff officer.

436. An order will state at the head the source, place, and date, and at the foot, the name of the commander who gives it; as for example:

Head- Quarters of the First Brigade, Second Division.

1st June; 1860.  

GENERAL ORDERS,

NO.     -

By command of Brigadier-General A. B.

C. D., Assistant Adjutant General.

437. Orders may be put in the form of letters, but generally in the strict military form, through the office of the Adjutant or Adjutant General of the command.

438. Orders are transmitted through all the intermediate commanders in the order of rank.  When an intermediate commander is omitted, the officer who gives the order shall inform him, and he who receives it shall report it to his immediate superior.

439. Orders for any body of troops will be addressed to the commander. and will be opened and executed by the commander present, and published or distributed by him when necessary; printed orders, however, are generally distributed direct to posts from the head-quarters where issued.

440. Orders assigning the stations of officers of engineers, ordnance, and of the staff departments, except as provided in the regulations for troops in the campaign, will be given by the Secretary of War, through the Adjutant-General’s office, or by commanders of geographical departments, under the special authority of the War Department.  The  commander of a department, who, in  consequence of the movement of troops or other necessity of the service, removes an officer from the station assigned to him by the Secretary of War, shall promptly report the case to the Adjutant-General.

441. A file of the printed orders will be kept with the head-quarters of each regiment, with each company, and at each military post, and will be regularly turned over by the commander, when relieved, to his successor.

442. If general orders are not received in regular -succession, commanding officers will report the missing numbers to the proper headquarters.

443. The orderly hours being fixed at each head-quarters, the staff officers and chiefs of the special services either attend in person, or send their assistants to obtain the orders of the day; and the first sergeants of companies repair for that purpose to the regimental or garrison headquarters.

444. During marches and active operations, and when  the regular orderly hours cannot be observed, all orders will be either sent direct to the troops, or the respective commanders of regiments or corps will be informed when to send to head-quarters for them. Under the same circumstances, orders will be read to the troops during a halt, without waiting for the regular parades.

445. Orders to any officer to make a tour of travel on duty, as for the inspection or payment of troops, &c., shall designate the troops and posts he shall visit, and the order in which he shall visit them, and the route of travel.

446. Every commander who gives an order involving an expenditure of public money, shall send a copy, without delay, to the bureau of the War Department to which the expenditure appertains, and if such commander be serving in a military department, he shall send a copy of the order to the head-quarters of the Department.

447. If a military commander shall give to a disbursing officer any order in conflict with orders received by him from the officer in charge of his department, at any superior head-quarters, such commander shall forthwith transmit the order to such head-quarters, with explanation of the necessity which justifies it.

448. Copies of all orders of the commanders of armies, departments, divisions, and detached brigades, and of the Superintendent of the recruiting service, will be forwarded at their dates, or as soon thereafter as practicable, in separate series, on full sheets of letter paper, or as printed, to the Adjutant-General’s office.

449. Written communications from a commander to those under his command may be made by his staff officer.   In all other cases by the officer himself.

150. In signing an official communication, the writer shall annex to his name his rank and corps. When he writes by order, he shall state by whose order.

451. All official correspondence between the heads of the different departments of the staff of any command, and its commander, must pass through the Adjutant-General, Assistant Adjutant-General, or Adjutant of the command, as the case may be.  Communications to or from a commander, and those under his command, must pass through the Adjutant-General, Assistant Adjutant-General, or Adjutant on duty with it; excepting only such communications between a disbursing officer and the chief of his particular branch of the staff, as relate exclusively to the ordinary routine of business in their own department.  All communications, whether from an inferior to a superior, or vice versa, are, as a general rule, to be passed through the intermediate commanders. The same rule governs in verbal applications: for example, a Lieutenant seeking an indulgence must apply through his Captain, the Captain through the Adjutant, and so on.

452. Copies of all important communications from the bureaus of the War Department to disbursing  officers, relating to the service in a military department, shall be sent from the bureau to the department commander.

453. Rolls and returns will be accompanied by a letter of transmittal, enumerating them, and referring to no other subject.

454. Generally, officers who forward communications indorse on them their remarks or opinion, without other letters of transmittal.

455. Official letters should generally refer to one matter only.   In regard to an enlisted man, the company and regiment must be stated.

456. Letters on letter paper will be folded in three folds, parallel with the writing.

ARTICLE XXXV. RETURNS AND REPORTS. MONTHLY RETURNS.

458. Commanders of regiments, corps, and posts, will make to the Adjutant-General's office of the War Department monthly returns f their respective regiments, corps, and posts, on the forms furnished from that office, and according to the directions expressed on them. In like manner, Captains make monthly company returns to regimental headquarters. All monthly returns will be forwarded on the 1st day of the next month, except regimental returns, which are forwarded as soon as all the company returns are received.

459. In campaign, monthly returns of divisions and detached brigades, and, generally, of all detached commands (see General Order No. 1, of February 10, 1855), will be made to the Adjutant-General's office. They will exhibit separately the several regiments, and detachments, and staff corps, and the strength of each garrison within the command. These returns, and those of regiments, corps, and posts, in campaign, will, unless otherwise ordered, be transmitted through the intermediate commanders.

460. The established printed forms and blanks of all returns required from the commanders of divisions, brigades, regiments, corps, companies, and posts, will be furnished from the Adjutant-General's office, on their requisitions annually made, or oftener, if necessary. The receipt of these forms and blanks will be immediately acknowledged, and afterward accounted for on the next monthly returns.

461. Manuscript returns, rolls, certificates, and other documents, are prohibited, unless the proper printed forms have not been received in time. Regimental returns must be made out in the name of the Colonel, whether he be present or absent.

ANNUAL RETURNS-CASUALTIES.

462. This return will exhibit the various changes and alterations which may have taken place in the regiment during the preceding twelve months: that is to say-a statement of the number of resignations, transfers, deaths, &c., of commissioned officers; the number of men joined by enlistment, transferred, and discharged; the number tried by Courts-Martial or by the civil law, and the nature of their offenses; the number of discharges, deaths, dismissals, and desertions; number joined from desertion, pardoned, &c., &c.

RETURN OF DECEASED SOLDIERS.

463. To be forwarded to the Adjutant-General, by the Colonels of regiments, quarterly. Also a duplicate to the Second Auditor of the Treasury.

FIELD RETURNS. 

464. Besides the stated returns of the troops, such other field returns and reports will be made as may be necessary to keep the government informed of the condition and strength of the forces.

465. After any action or affair, a return of the killed, wounded, and missing will be made, in which the name, rank, and regiment of each officer and soldier will be specified, with such remarks and explanations as may be requisite for the records of the Department of War, or be necessary to establish the just claims of any individual who may have been wounded, or of the heirs and representatives of any killed in action (taking care to specify the nature of the wound, the time and place of its occurrence, the company, regiment, or corps, and the name of the Captain, Colonel, or other commanding officer).

REPORTS.

466. The date of appointment, of detail, and of removal of all staff officers, or of officers selected for duty in staff departments, which may entitle them to receive additional pay, will be immediately reported by the officer making such appointment, detail, or removal, to the Adjutant General, and to the Paymaster of the department or command to which such officers belong.

467. Whenever any change takes place in the position or location of troops, the fact will be immediately reported by the commanding officer to general, division, and department head-quarters, specifying the date of departure of the whole or any part of the troops, or of the arrival of any detachment; as well as all other circumstances connected with such changes in the command. These special reports will always be accompanied by an exact return of the troops according to the established printed forms. A similar report will be noted on the next monthly return of the post or station. If a new post or position be established, its situation, and the nearest post-office and proper route to it, should be reported.

468. Officers on detached duty will report, monthly, to the commanders of their posts, of their regiments or corps, and to the Adjutant General, their stations, the nature of their duties, and the authority placing them thereon.

PRISONERS OF WAR-CAPTURED PROPERTY.

469. A return of prisoners, and a report of the number and description of the killed and wounded of the enemy, will be forwarded to the Adjutant-General's office, Washington.

470. A return of all property captured will be made by the commanding officer of the troops by whom such capture was made, to the Adjutant. General, at Washington, in order that it may be disposed of according to the orders of the War Department.

INSPECTION REPORTS.

471. Inspection reports will show the discipline of the troops; their instruction in all military exercises and duties: the state of their arms, clothing, equipments, and accoutrements of all kinds; of their kitchens and messes; of the barracks and quarters at the post; of the guardhouse, prisons, hospital, bake-house, magazines, store-houses, and stores of every description; of the stables and horses; the condition of the post school; the management and application of the post and company funds; the state of the post, and regimental, and company books, papers, and files; the zeal and ability of the officers in command of troops; the capacity of the officers conducting the administrative and staff services, the fidelity and economy of their disbursements; the condition of all public property, and the amount of money in the hands of each disbursing officer; the regularity of issues and payments; the mode of enforcing discipline by courts-martial, and by the authority of the officers; the propriety and legality of all punishments inflicted; and any information whatsoever concerning the service, in any matter or particular that may merit notice, or aid to correct defects or introduce improvements.

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