Adjutant General's Department

HISTORICAL NOTES:
The Adjutant General's Department of the Confederate States of America was a critical office responsible for staffing and sustaining the Confederate army. It was sstablished by an act of the Confederate Congress on 19 April 1862 and headed by General Samuel Cooper, who also served as Inspector General. Key responsibilities included organizing, recording, and managing personnel, as well as preserving records and histories. The Adjutant General's Department played a crucial role in the Confederate war effort, particularly in the early stages of the war, when it was essential to quickly organize and mobilize the army. The records and histories preserved by the department continue to provide valuable insights into the lives and experiences of soldiers and civilians during the Civil War.

The Adjutant General's Department was a vital component of the Confederate War Department. It was responsible for a wide range of administrative tasks, including:

Recruiting and mobilizing: Quickly raising a credible force and staffing the army.

Personnel management: Handling promotions, discharges, and other personnel matters.

Recordkeeping: Preserving records of the war and army, including histories and documents.

Communication: Publishing army orders and handling correspondence.

The Adjutant General's Department was led by General Samuel Cooper, a key figure within the Confederate War Department. He was also the Inspector General, a combined role due to the need to mobilize quickly and the close relationship between Cooper and President Davis.

The records kept by the Adjutant General's Department are invaluables. They are preserved in the War Department Collection of Confederate Records at the National Archives.

The 1862 Army Officer's Pocket Companion - A Manual for Staff Officers in the field - Article 18

[excerpt]

Colonel Scott ( General Winfield Scott's military dictionary) remarks, that the staff of an army may be properly distinguished under these three heads:

1. The General Staff - Consisting of adjutant-general and assistant-adjutant-general, aide-de-camp, inspectors-general, and assistant- inspectors-general. The functions of these officers consist not merely in distributing the orders of commanding generals, but also in regulating camps, directing the march of columns, and furnishing to the commanding general all the necessary details for the exercise of his authority. Their duties embrase the whole range of the service of the troops, and they are hence properly styled general staff officers.

2 Staff-corps, of staff departments. These special corps or departments, whos duties are confined to distinct branches of the service. The engineers corps and topographical engineers are such staff-corps. The ordnance, quarter-masters, subsistence, medical and pay departments are such staff departments.

3. The Regimental staff embraces regimental officers and non-commissioned officers charged with functions, within their respective regiments, assimibted to the duties of adjutant-generals, quarter-masters, and commissaries. Each regiment should have a regimental adjutant and a regimental quarter-master.

[excerpt]

Article 20 - Duties of Adjutant Generals:

The bureau duties of adjutant generals and assistants are: publishing orders in writing; making up written instructions and transmitting them; reception of reports and returns; disposing of them; forming tables, showing state and position of corps; regulating details of service; corresponding with the administrative departments relative to the wants of the troops; the methodical arrangement and care of the records and papers of the office.

The active duties of adjutant-generals consist in establishing camps; visiting guards and outposts; mustering and inspecting troops; inspecting guards and detachments; forming parades and line of battle; The conduct and control of deserters and prisoners; making reconnoissances; and in general, discharging such other active duties as may be assigned them.

OFFICERS:

General Samuel Cooper

ROSTER:
The roster of this regiment contains the names of 27 men.

Roster