Official Records of the Rebellion

Official Records of the Rebellion: Volume Eleven, Chapter 23, Part 1: Peninsular Campaign: Reports

The Document

No. 9.

Report of Col. Henry F. Clarke, U. S. Army, Chief Commissary of Subsistence of operations from August 1, 1861, to November 9, 1862.

OFFICE CHIEF COMMISSARY SUBSISTENCE, ARMY POTOMAC,
Camp near Falmouth. Va., February 1, 1863.

GENERAL: In compliance with the request communicated to me in your letter of the 20th ultimo I have the honor to furnish the following report of the operations of the subsistence department pertaining to the Army of the Potomac during the period I served on the staff of Major-General McClellan as chief commissary of that army:

I joined the staff of General McClellan August 1, 1861, at Washington, D. C. While the Army of the Potomac was in the vicinity of [167] that city it was amply supplied with subsistence from the depots established by the department at the city, Alexandria, and Forts Runyon and Corcoran. Commissaries of subsistence of the volunteer service reporting for duty with this army were, with their clerks, first sent to the depot at Alexandria, Va., for instruction, and afterwards assigned to brigades. Much attention was given to them by the officers in charge of the depot, and great good has resulted to the service from this system, which is yet continued in all practicable cases.

To be prepared for the probable future movements of the army, in February of last year more than 600,000 complete rations were loaded on six propellers at New York and sent to Alexandria, Va., to be in readiness to accompany the troop transports when they should sail. These stores were intended for immediate issue to the several commands at their points of landing. In addition to the stores just named 2,500,000 complete rations were loaded on vessels at New York and sent to Fort Monroe, Va., to await further orders.

About the middle of March, so soon as the movement of the army to the Peninsula was determined upon, a large quantity of subsistence stores was dispatched from Washington by steamers and barges in tow of steamers to Fort Monroe, Va. The stores in the steamers were to supply the additional demands that would be made for rations at that post. The barges with their cargoes were to be towed, as the army advanced up the Peninsula, to points of landing on the Chesapeake Bay and the York and Pamunkey Rivers the most convenient for issuing stores, and which might be accessible only by vessels of light draught. During the period of preparation beef cattle were shipped from Baltimore and New York to Fort Monroe, and kept in depot at the latter place for the future use of the Army of the Potomac.

In the desire to be prepared for any emergency Capt. (now Lieut. Col.) George Bell, commissary of subsistence, U. S. Army, was relieved from the charge of the depot at Alexandria, and directed to make arrangements to establish depots on short notice at any points at the terminus of water transportation that might thereafter be designated. How well he complied with those directions will appear in the course of this report.

Orders were issued that each command in embarking should carry with it not less than six days’ rations, at least three days of them to be cooked and in the haversacks of the men. On the 18th day of March, 1862, the first troops (a division of Heintzelman’s corps) left Alexandria for Fort Monroe, and other portions of the army followed as fast as transports were furnished. March 23 Captain Bell, accompanied by Capt. (now Lieut. Col.) A. P. Porter, commissary of subsistence, U. S. Army, and a large force of clerks and laborers, left Washington for Fort Monroe, and arrived at the latter place the next day, having under his control the six propellers laden with subsistence stores. While at Fort Monroe—from March 24 to April 5—Captain Bell and party assisted Capt. (now Lieut. Col.) J. McL. Taylor, commissary of subsistence, U. S. Army, depot commissary, in issuing subsistence to the troops as they arrived and were established in camps in the vicinity of that post at Hampton and Newport News and in discharging vessels laden with subsistence stores.

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How to cite this article

Official Records of the Rebellion: Volume Eleven, Chapter 23, Part 1: Peninsular Campaign: Reports, pp.166-167

web page Rickard, J (25 October 2006), http://www.historyofwar.org/sources/acw/officialrecords/vol011chap023part1/00009_01.html


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