Detached Service

[CThom21]

What rank had the authority to detach a soldier from his unit?
Looking at the military papers of one of my forebears, I see that from Helena, Arkansas he was detached by Gen. Prentiss to accompany the regiment's adjutant back to Wisconsin. Later, during the Siege of Vicksburg, he was detached to the 16th Ohio Light Artillery to serve as a blacksmith "by orders of General Grant".
Was this just rubber stamp business, or did Grant really personally make that choice. I know that he visited the 16th Ohio during the siege, complimented their location as the best on the siege line, and moved a heavier gun into their area.

 

[lelliott19]

Hello @CThom21 and welcome to CivilWarTalk - the best place on the internet for Civil War discussion. Happy to have you aboard!

@lupaglupa can you help @CThom21 with his question? Or anyone else?

 

[mofederal]

Hello and welcome to the CivilWarTalk from Southeast Missouri.

 

[Mark Roth]

He was probably ordered to accompany the adjutant by the adjutant's recommendation or someone in the regiments. Someone probably knew he was a blacksmith and sent his name in or forwarded his willingness to volunteer when they heard the battery needed a blacksmith. In neither case was the general likely to have been personally involved. Someone on their staff just signed off on it.

 

[huskerblitz]

What rank had the authority to detach a soldier from his unit?
Looking at the military papers of one of my forebears, I see that from Helena, Arkansas he was detached by Gen. Prentiss to accompany the regiment's adjutant back to Wisconsin. Later, during the Siege of Vicksburg, he was detached to the 16th Ohio Light Artillery to serve as a blacksmith "by orders of General Grant".
Was this just rubber stamp business, or did Grant really personally make that choice. I know that he visited the 16th Ohio during the siege, complimented their location as the best on the siege line, and moved a heavier gun into their area.

From my experience researching the 22nd Ky (a sister regiment to the 16th Ohio), I have found orders where a brigade commander has sent an order to the Colonel of the 22nd to select x number of men for detached duty doing this or that. So that's one way. I have also seen the Colonel have captains select men for duty. So it appears that it kind of just followed the chain of command up.

 

[Gary Morgan]

I occasionally come across Union Prisoners of War listed as being on "Detached service," in which case I don't think it was authorized by anybody - I think it just happened!

Welcome to the site. It's a great place to learn lots!

 

[Patrick H]

This is a good question, and I've never given it much thought. My ancestor's papers indicate that he served several stints of detached service while in Arkansas. He was usually assigned to accompany trains and duties of that nature. I supposed some senior office said: "I need some guys to go over to...." and the Company commander just gave the job to volunteers or to men he knew were dependable.

 

[lupaglupa]

This is a great question. I've seen the term a lot - basically anybody was doing a task away from the unit. Like @Mark Roth I doubt the top brass had a direct role. But you never know. Seems most likely that the word went out from the top that "volunteers" were needed and officers found them.

 

[CThom21]

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. I guess part of what I was asking is why it was by the authority of the top-ranking general that the detachment was made. In the first instance (of accompanying the adjutant) it seems that Col. Gill could have authorized the detached service from the regiment. In the case of detaching the soldier in question from the 29th Wisconsin to the 16th Ohio Light Artillery, since both units were in the Twelfth Division it seems Gen. Hovey could have authorized it, or the XIII Corps commander Gen. McClernand.

 

[huskerblitz]

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. I guess part of what I was asking is why it was by the authority of the top-ranking general that the detachment was made. In the first instance (of accompanying the adjutant) it seems that Col. Gill could have authorized the detached service from the regiment. In the case of detaching the soldier in question from the 29th Wisconsin to the 16th Ohio Light Artillery, since both units were in the Twelfth Division it seems Gen. Hovey could have authorized it, or the XIII Corps commander Gen. McClernand.

I would assume part of the larger plan of action that the top-ranking general had established would require lower-ranking officers to cite the original order when making the detachment. Men of the 22nd Ky were detached to the First Wisconsin battery at times to guard them and other times assigned to Patterson's Pioneers to do manual labor with them.

Hopefully, that makes some sense.