Special Order 400

Question

Hi Wikitreers,

I’m working on U.S. Civil War veteran Pvt. George LeRoy Livingston which has a military record that mentions Discharged by Special Order 400 

I am curious what this was special order and how it pertains to this veterans discharge. 

George served with the 106th New York Regt. Co. A  

Thank you

Answer 1

Special orders are just orders relating to specific people (as opposed to general orders). I'll quote one from the regiment I've studied below.

Because they're about specific people, you won't find them published. 

But you can order a copy from the National Archives, if you know who issued the order. (Was it his regiment? the brigage? division? corps? ....) Or they might be able to find it in the regimental orders book--at least the one for my regiment includes copies of orders relating to the regiment. (I haven't ordered copies from them for a while, but I'd expect it to cost whatever their minimum charge is.)

Harry

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Head Quarters 5th Army Corps
July 3rd 1864
Special Order No 160
Extract

The following enlisted men are hereby honorably discharged the [sic] service of the United States, to enable them to accept commissions in the Volunteer Service

Sergt Theodore H Hope Co "E" 91st Penna Vols. to date July [1st 1864]
x x x x
By Command of
Major Genl Warren
Signed Fred. T. Locke
Asst Adjt Genl
Head Quarters 1st Division 5th Corps
July 3rd 1864
"Official"
(Signed) C. B. Mervine
Asst. Adjt. Genl
Head Quarters 2nd Brigade 1st Div. 5th Corps
"Official" July 3rd 1864
(Signed) E. C. Bennett
A.A.A.G.
Head Quarters 91st Reg. Pa Vols 2nd Brig.
1st Division 5th Corps July 3rd 1864
Official
B. J. Tayman
Adjutant

Comments

Have you ever looked at the National Archives' catalog? https://catalog.archives.gov/search?page=1&q=%22106th%20New%20York%20Infantry%22 They do have the descriptive books and the regimental letters & orders book for the 106th New York (but there's no way of telling from the catalog how complete they are), along with other records.

Answer 2

Does the Special Order have a notation by General __?

I thought those were signed off by the commanding officer.

Comments

This has definitely been a challenge trying to figure out 

Answer 3

Civil War, Special Orders, A to Z, American History Central

400 is not in the list but many were command duty assignment related

Comments

I'm not as familiar with Special Orders in the Civil War but I am familiar with General Orders in WW2.  

The Orders would be issued by a specific command or you might say organization.  So the commander of that organization or his adjutant would be the one who would sign the order.  In the above example that Harry gave, that was Special Order 160 issued by the 5th Army Corps.  Also, if this is like the General Orders in WW2, that would be the 160th Special Order issued for the year 1864 by that unit.