CIVIL War Battle Of Gettysburg Victory Meade General Order No 68 July 4 1863

  
The Battle of Gettysburg is considered the pivotal battle of the Civil War and the decisive Union Army victory stopping Lee's last offensive in the North. 863 General George Meade issued General Order 68 from his HQ, Army of the Potomac on the Gettysburg battlefield, thanking the Army for their "glorious result of the recent operations" on behalf of the country; the enemy "utterly baffled and defeated" has withdrawn, noting that history will ever remember the privations and heroic courage and gallantry of the Army, gives thanks to the Almighty and looks to his command to "drive very vestige of the enemy from our soil". This order was printed by soldiers at Meade's HQ on the battlefield and read to the troops. 1p 8 x 5" ptd with large logo on 8 x 5" rag paper. Edge wear, 2 punch holes in each side margin, Overall VG.

This has been in my collection since 1985, and I have only heard of one other being offered since. General & Special Orders were issued to communicate commands and information to the Army. Each order, issued in writing by a command, was then printed for distribution to each unit, either at an army department headquarter or by commanders at local headquarters in the field on portable printing presses operated by soldiers. The orders were then issued to regiments, to be read aloud to the troops.

General Orders were printed as issued with date & location; at the end of a year the regimental adjutant might retain them loose or simply string bind them by punching holes or cut slits in the left margin and stringing on ¼" red cloth string tape (the source of the old expression "government red tape). Sometimes an officer or HQ clerk might take a group of orders to a local print shop or bookbinder and have an accumulation bound with leather or cloth covers. Usually, American Military Orders of the 19. Century including Civil War era were printed on an 8 x 5 sheet of quality rag paper. General Orders and other imprints and badges.

All items are unconditionally guaranteed to be authentic and in the condition as described. NOTE: Any repair to a paper item is listed. I use only museum curator approved archival repair tape. PLEASE READ DETAILS OF THE ITEM DESCRIPTION. I TRY TO DESCRIBE ALL ITEMS ACCURATELY.

This item is in the category "Collectibles\Militaria\Civil War (1861-65)\Original Period Items\Documents". The seller is "99counties" and is located in this country: US. This item can be shipped to United States.

• Conflict: Civil War (1861-65)
• Theme: Militaria
• Original/Reproduction: Original
• Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
• Modified Item: No