CIVIL War General Henry Benham Command Order 1861

  

General Henry Washington Benham was a noted US Army engineer & commander during the Civil War who built the Union Army's great pontoon bridge across the James River, Virginia, the longest pontoon bridge ever built by any Army, enabling Grants Army to silently cross the River and advance on the Petersburg strategic railroads, while Lee remained unaware of the crossing, June 14, 1864. An original Civil War General Order, issued at HQ Dept of the Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio Aug 5, 1861 assigning Benham as Inspector General of the Dept of Ohio. The printed order is ink signed on front page by Captain Nathaniel Henry McLean also a noted engineer who established the City of Cincinnati Defenses during the Confederate Invasion of Kentucky in 1862. 1p 8 x 5 ptd, ink.

Age on edges, punch hole 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.

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.