CIVIL War General Alfred Pleasanton Command Order Missouri 1864

  

General Alfred Pleasanton commanded the Union Cavalry at Gettysburg & Brandy Station but his best performance was in Missouri where he defeated Confederate General Sterling Price during Invasion of Missouri & and battles of Westport & Marais des Cygnes, October, 1864. An original Department of the Missouri General Order, issued Sept 20, 1864 at HQ, St Louis, assigning General Pleasanton to command of the City by General Rosecrans, resulting in the defeat of Price's Army and ending the Confederate threat to Missouri. 1p 8 x 5 ptd. Edge wear, age stains, 2 punch holes in left margin, Overall VG.

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, sometimes in the field on portable printing presses. The orders were then issued to regiments, often 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 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. All items are unconditionally guaranteed to be authentic and in the condition as described. PLEASE READ DETAILS OF THE ITEM DESCRIPTION. I TRY TO DESCRIBE ALL ITEMS ACCURATELY.