Sagebrush,
The best explaination of "Staff" of the U.S. Army which is identical in the CSA; is well explained in:
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.
Article 21 - Aide-de-Camp
These are ex-offiicio assistant adjutant generals(Act March 2, 1821). The are confidential officers selected by general officers to assist them in their military duties. A lieutenant-general appoints not exceeding for in time of war, and two in peace, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. A major-general appoints two, and a brigade general one. The act of August 5, 1861 , enacts during the existing insurrection, "the president may appoint aides-de-camp at will, with the rank of captains, majors, lieutenant-colonels, or colonels, upon the recommendation of the lieutenant-general, or of the major-general commanding an army in the field. These appontments to be recalled whenever the president thinks proper."
Aide-de-camp are attached to the person of the general, and receive orders only from him. Their function are difficult and delicate. Often enjoying the full confidence of the general, they are employed in representing him, in writing orders ,in carrying them in person if necessary, in communicating them verbally upon the battlefield and fields of maneuver. It is important that aide-de-camp should know well the position of troops, routes, post, quarters of generals, composition of columns, and orders of corps; facility in the use of the pen should be joined with exactness of expression; upon fields of battle they watch the movements of the enemy; not only grand maneuvers but special tactics should be familiar to them. It is necessary that their knowledge be sufficiently comprehensive to understand the object and purpose of all orders, and also to judge, in the varying circumstances of a battlefield, whether it is not necessary to modify an order when carried in person, or if there be time to return for new instructions.
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M. E. Wolf