Scope and Contents:
This order book of the Second Brigade, Missouri Volunteers, for the period from Aug. 1861 to Mar. 1862, contains orders for recruitment, drill maneuvers and movements, and the formation of the Brigade and its regiments, which included the 25th, 36th, and 44th Ill. Vol. Inf., 3rd, 12th, and 17th Mo. Vol. Inf., 2nd Ohio Battery, Capt. L. Hoffmann's Battery (Ohio), and Capt. M. Welfley's Battery (Mo.). The Second Brigade was commanded, for a time, by Brig. Gen. Peter J. Osterhaus, first under Brig. Gen. Franz Sigel, and later under Brig. Gen. Samuel R. Curtis. Sigel and Curtis issued many of the orders included in the volume.