(7) Halt Order
6.—You are Brigadier General Short; you are in command of a detachment from the first division. You have just decided that your whole command should go into camp for the whole night. Your command is at Bonnyville. You want to let your troops know that your cavalry has come in contact with hostile cavalry, and that this attack was made near Whitehall. About an hour after the issue of your message your cavalry drove back the hostile cavalry toward Littlestown. You want the second infantry to camp in a field southwest of the town in which your division is now located. You want your first battalion of your fourth artillery to camp in a field northwest of the same town. You understand from a patrol which has just reported to you, that at noon a column of the enemy was on the march going west, and that at that time the advance guard of this column of the enemy was at Center School House. You decide to place the first infantry in a camp northwest of Sweet Home School House. There this first infantry is to establish an outpost. The outpost is to extend from Hill 627 on the north, along through St. Luke’s Church up into a place called Coshun. You want to notify the first infantry of your command, that in case it is attacked, the line which has just been designated will be the one to be held. Your third infantry you want to have camp in a field north of the town in which you are. You want your field trains to join their organizations; that is, the organization to which they ordinarily belong, and you want this done right away. You yourself at your own headquarters are going to camp where the main street comes out of the western end of this town at which you are located. At one o’clock in the afternoon of June 2, 1930, you deliver this order verbally to your advance guard commander, to all your columns of infantry, to your artillery commander, and all your staff; you send one of your aides with a copy of the order to Major Kline of the fifth cavalry, Captain Quigley who is in charge of the train, and to Captain Supple of the signal corps. This is the 7th field order you have written in this campaign. Signal Company A is to be camped west of the second infantry, and the first ambulance company is to be near the signal company. All the ammunition companies are to be camped near the farm house called Lawrence. The first squadron of the 5th cavalry ought, you figure, to camp somewhere near and west of the artillery.
7.—The enemy has been retreating; he is continuing his retreat. Your troops know that he has been retreating, but they do not know that he is continuing his retreat. In fact, he is retreating in great disorder. He is retreating in such great disorder that he is offering no show of resistance to any of your troops who are pursuing him. You are Major General Plight in command of the first division of the first army corps. You are on the Baltimore Turnpike near White Run. You decide to have your advance guard camp north of Two Taverns and to establish an outpost line. They are to have a line of observation and keep on the alert on that line of observation which will extend from Bonnyville through Germantown to the cross-roads at 568. The first brigade will come between the two branches of White Run, which are north of the road just mentioned. The artillery brigade, with one battalion gone, will camp along the road which runs through the western branch of White Run. The ambulance companies, you figure, should camp south on the road just mentioned and west of White Run. Your division headquarters you decide to have placed west of the farm house. This farm house is located west of where the road you are on crosses over Rock Creek. You wish to tell your command that orders will be issued from these headquarters at nine o’clock. Your whole command, you decide, should halt for the whole night. Your second brigade should camp just north of the road where you are located, and just west of a road known by the name of Low Dutch. This 2d brigade should have a detached post which it will detail for outpost duty. Such a post should be in observation of the cross-roads at 530. This cross-roads is just west of the Mt. Vernon School House. The engineer battalion should camp south of the road you are on and east of White Run. The signal company should camp at a spot where the road you are on goes across Rock Creek. You want the signal company to lay a wire from there to the outpost, and you want the signal company to have a station on this wire or line at a place indicated by 489. You want your outpost to know that if they are attacked they will be supported by you. You give copies of this order to the officers who are sent from the various commands to get the orders. You issue the order at a quarter after two in the afternoon of June 2, 1935. They are the 77th field orders you have issued in this campaign. Your field trains ought to join their commands right off. You want the remaining trains to go into park on the main battle-field of Gettysburg. You decide that issues of supplies will be best made from the supply column and that these issues should be made at half past five in the morning. The place you decide from which such issues should be made is 523. Your supply wagons, which have been emptied, ought to proceed to Ortanna for the night. There they should fill up with supplies and come back and join early the next day.