The South Carolina in the Civil War Message Board

Re: Benjamin F. Terry
In Response To: Re: Benjamin F. Terry ()

The Quartermaster Department was responsible for the wagon trains of the army. In this capacity, subordinate to the Quartermaster were other departments such as Commissary, Ordnance and Medical. Supply trains might refer to either baggage or food, but typically the latter were at the brigade level and above. Baggage trains carried extra clothing, knapsacks, etc., usually for individual regiments. 1) The Commissary Department specifically handled rations for men and animals, along with cooking utensils. For instance, the men might carry three days' rations on their backs while the trains carried an extra ten days' worth of cooked rations. Forage trains were tasked with roaming through the countryside gathering food and grains. Cattle and sheep were driven alongside the wagons as meat "on the hoof." 2) The Ordnance Department was responsible for supplying ammunition and gathering serviceable weapons off a battlefield. These wagons might be grouped at the brigade level, with the reserve ammunition carried by division or corps ordnance trains. 3) The Medical Department was responsible for the medical supplies and ambulances, often referred to as the Ambulance Corps. On the battleground, medical officers (surgeons) determined hospital locations and directed ambulances for collection of the wounded, but on the march the Quartermaster was in overall control of the ambulance trains. Even the Pioneer Corps (division level) generally had one assigned wagon to haul axes, picks, shovels, etc. Senior officers might have one dedicated wagon for their personal effects. All of these trains typically traveled together, but could be quickly separated, because the ordnance and ambulance trains would continue on with the troops when battle was imminent, while the rest of the train headed to the rear for safety and to avoid clogging the roads for vital movements of infantry and artillery. Now a teamster was assigned to every wagon in the entire train, so the term is generic, but thankfully his duties are often further identified, for instance driving an ordnance or baggage or commissary wagon at either the regiment, brigade, division, corps or army level. Generally speaking, the number of wagons declined as the war went on, because the armies learned how to make due with less. A train of four- or six-horse or mule teams for just one division could stretch for many miles and often impeded movement of the combat troops. Empty wagons were sent to the rear supply bases, while employed to carry back the wounded. Individual wagons were marked to identify their function (ordnance wagons were painted black for instance), and those of the Union army in particular were extremely well organized thanks to that unheralded genius, Rufus Ingalls. Most of the wagons in the Confederate army seem to have been taken from their opponents, and their organization mirrored that of the Federal army.

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