1861–1865 - Civil War

On June 17, 1864, Major General Benjamin F. Butler issued special orders announcing that he was withdrawing his previous orders relieving Major General Quincy A. Gillmore of his command.

On July 21, 1861, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston issued an unnumbered special order approving Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard's plan of attack for the First Battle of Bull Run.

On May 16, 1861, the U.S. War Department issued Special Orders, No, 135 relieving Brigadier General William S. Harney as commander of the Department of the West.

On September 10, 1861, the Confederate War Department issued Special Orders, No. 149, appointing General Albert Sidney Johnston to command of Confederate forces in the Western Theater.

On May 31, 1861, Major General Robert E. Lee issued Special Orders, No. 149, announcing that Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard was assigned to the command of the troops in the Alexandria line near Manassas Junction, Virginia.

On January 20, 1863, Major General Ambrose E. Burnside issued Special Orders, No. 20, (AOP) confirming the appointment of Major General Franz Sigel as commander of the Grand Reserve Division of the Army of the Potomac.

On June 1, 1862, Robert E. Lee issued Special Orders, No. 22, taking command of Confederate troops in Eastern Virginia and North Carolina that would henceforth be known as the Army of Northern Virginia.

On September 5, 1862, the U.S. War Department issued Special Orders, No. 223, announcing that Joseph Hooker was assigned to command of the 5th Army Corps and that Fitz John Porter, William B. Franklin, and Charles Griffin were relieved of their commands.

On July 7, 1864, the U.S. War Department issued Special Orders, No. 230 relieving Major General Franz Sigel and Major General Julius Stahel from duty in the District of Harper's Ferry.

On June 3, 1863, the Department of the Army issued Special Orders, No. 249 replacing Major General David Hunter with Brigadier General Quincy A. Gillmore as commander of the Department of the South.

On February 22, 1865, Robert E. Lee issued Special Orders, No. 3 (Armies of the Confederate States) placing General Joseph E. Johnston in charge of the merged Department of Tennessee and Georgia, and the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.

On April 28, 1862, Major General Henry W. Halleck merged the Army of the Tennessee, the Army of the Ohio, and the Army of the Mississippi to form one large army consisting of three corps.

On February 9, 1863, the Confederate War Department extended the command of Lieutenant General Edmund Kirby Smith to embrace the Trans-Mississippi Department.

On June 17, 1864, Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant issued Special Orders, No. 36 (Armies of the United States) announcing that he was relieving Major General Quincy A. Gillmore of his command of the Tenth Army Corps at his own request.

On February 25, 1862, the Confederate War Department issued General Orders, No. 45 appointing Major General Kirby Smith to command the Department of East Tennessee.

On November 4, 1861, General Joseph E. Johnston issued Special Orders, No. 486, ordering Major General Thomas J. Jackson to take command of the Valley District of the Department of Northern Virginia.

On September 28, 1864, General John Bell Hood issued Special Orders, No. 5, Department of Tennessee and Georgia, announcing that William J. Hardee was relieved from duty with the Army of Tennessee.

On October 7, 1862, Major General Horatio G. Wright, commanding Department of the Ohio, issued Special Orders, No. 51, assigning Major General Gordon Granger to command the newly created Army of Kentucky.

On December 25, 1861, Major General Henry W. Halleck appointed Brigadier General Samuel R. Curtis to command the Southwestern District of Missouri.

On May 21, 1861, Robert E. Lee, commander of Virginia's forces, issued Special Orders, No. 95, assigning Brigadier General Milledge Luke Bonham to command the state's troops on the Alexandria Line.