will be accompanied by a sufficient guard in case it is impracticable for them to operate in connection with the ordinary subsistence foraging parties. Small foraging parties must be avoided. The details should be made by division, preferably, and at least by brigade. Every forage train will be accompanied by an officer of the quartermaster's department, who will also superintend the equitable distribution of the articles collected.

By order of Major General E. R. S. Canby:

C. T. CHRISTENSEN,

Lieutenant-Colonel and Assistant Adjutant-General.

SPECIAL HEADQUARTERS ARMY AND DIVISION FIELD ORDERS,
OF WEST MISSISSIPPI, Numbers 16. Dannelly's Mills, on Fish River, Ala., March 23, 1865.

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10. The following rules for establishing the grand guards will be strictly adhered to: The general outline of the line of guards will be indicated by an officer of the corps staff, and to each division will be assigned a portion of it in its front, or front and flanks. These lines must be far enough in advance of the camps to give not only timely warning of any approach of the enemy, but also to insure ample time to the troops in camp to fall in and form before the enemy can be upon them. The guards must be of sufficient strength to cover the whole front of the camps, and the width of a division deployed in line, or both wings beyond the front (if natural obstacles do not render such precautionary extension unnecessary), and to repel small parties of the enemy which may intend to feel along the picket-line to harass our troops. For these purposes the grand guards will be formed in three lines, viz: First, the line of outposts (sentries); second, the line of guards (pickets); third, the line of reserves. The first line must cover the whole front in one continuous chain, if possible, so that every portion of the entire front would be under complete control. The position of the second line must be carefully selected with a view to defense. Parties sent out by the enemy to reconnoiter or alarm the camps ought to be checked here. The third line (reserves) will be placed between the second line and the camps at such points as will enable them to easily communicate with and re-enforce the more advanced lines. The commander of the grand guard should be habitually with the reserves and act as emergencies may demand. The line of guards (Numbers 2) must be thrown out at least a mile from the camps, if natural objects do not render it unnecessary or impossible, and the line of outposts (Numbers 1) half a mile beyond the guards. While the line of outposts must be continuous, the position of the inner lines (Nos. 2 and 3) ought to be in easy supporting distance with each other, and every officer and man should be acquainted with the relative position of the guards to their right and left and in front. A system of patrols toward and along the front of the first line and along the inner lines must be established; also patrols in the direction of the enemy should be sent out whenever the situation of things admits of them. At or shortly before sunrise is the most suitable time for the last-mentioned patrols. The position of the first and second lines should be regularly changed before night-fall. The most complete connection of the three lines through all the divisions of the army if imperative, and the several division picket officers will for that purpose confer with each other when establishing or correcting their lines. When the troops camp in more than one line those in the first line will cover the front,