Pvt Schnapps
01-17-2007, 12:54 PM
Regarding the recent discussion of roles for provosts, previous discussions of roles for other staff positions, and the extraordinary number of staff positions to be found at many reenactments, I thought this article would be of interest.
http://hometown.aol.com/airlineyard/staffstonesriver.html
Not only does it discuss the roles of various staff jobs in the civil war, it lists the men and positions on staff from Army down to brigade level in the Army of the Cumberland in the campaign leading up to Stones River.
Of particular interest is the extent to which the identification of separate staff positions drops off the further one gets to reenactor-scale units (i.e., brigade at best), the way jobs are combined, and the variety of possible configurations. Divisions may have about a dozen men on staff, brigades half that or fewer. In some cases staff officers fill formal roles (e.g. Acting Assistant Adjutant General), in more cases they're simply lieutenants, presumably stuck with a variety of jobs depending on aptitude and ability.
You can find more information on staffs at the army level in R. Stephen Jones' The Right Hand of Command (http://www.amazon.com/Right-Hand-Command-Personal-American/dp/0811714519), which tends to show that even at the higher levels American staffs had a lean and improvised aspect compared to those of European armies.
http://hometown.aol.com/airlineyard/staffstonesriver.html
Not only does it discuss the roles of various staff jobs in the civil war, it lists the men and positions on staff from Army down to brigade level in the Army of the Cumberland in the campaign leading up to Stones River.
Of particular interest is the extent to which the identification of separate staff positions drops off the further one gets to reenactor-scale units (i.e., brigade at best), the way jobs are combined, and the variety of possible configurations. Divisions may have about a dozen men on staff, brigades half that or fewer. In some cases staff officers fill formal roles (e.g. Acting Assistant Adjutant General), in more cases they're simply lieutenants, presumably stuck with a variety of jobs depending on aptitude and ability.
You can find more information on staffs at the army level in R. Stephen Jones' The Right Hand of Command (http://www.amazon.com/Right-Hand-Command-Personal-American/dp/0811714519), which tends to show that even at the higher levels American staffs had a lean and improvised aspect compared to those of European armies.