Adjutant and Inspector General’s Office, 
GENERAL ORDERS, \ 
No.' 90. $ 
Richmond, June 26, 1863. 
I. The senior officer of engineers, serving with an army in the field, 
will be held responsible for the proper execution of all duties appertain- 
ing to his department; and the orders of the Commanding General re- 
lating to the engineer service, will be communicated through him, and he 
will recommend to the General commanding, the assignments of junior 
officers of engineers, to serve with corps, divisions and brigades. The 
engineer officer of highest rank in each assignment, will receive the or- 
ders of his immediate commander, report to him whatever concerns the 
engineer service, and communicate to him the orders he receives from the 
senior engineer. He will also report to the senior engineer all his opera- 
tions, with sketches, drawings and maps for the information of the Com- 
manding General, and for transmission to the Engineer Bureau. 
11. All officers of engineers, and employees under the Engineer De- 
partment, will communicate through the proper channels with the senior 
engineer serving with the army in the field, be responsible to him for all 
public funds and property in their hands, and receive his orders and 
instructions. 
111. The duties of officers of engineers serving with the armies of the 
Confederate States in the field, camp or cantonment, are as follows, viz; 
To make reconnoissances and surveys of the sections of country occupied 
by our forces, and as far as possible, of the country held by the enemy, 
embracing all the information that can be obtained in reference to roads, 
bridges, fords, topographical and military features, the character and di- 
mensions of the water courses, the practicability of constructing fixed 
and floating bridges, the extent of wooded and cleared lauds, and the ca- 
pacity of the country to supply the general wants of the army; to make 
detailed examinations and surveys of positions to be occupied for de- 
fensive purposes; to select the sites, and form plans, projects and esti- 
mates for all military works, defensive or offensive, viz: field forts, bat- 
teries, rifle pits, lines of infantry cover, military trenches, parallels, saps, 
mines and other works of attack and siege; also, works for obstructing 
rivers and harbors; to prepare such maps and plans as will give a full 
knowledge of the ground and proposed works, and submit the same to 2 
the Commanding General for his information and consideration, and for- 
ward, through the proper channels, copies of all reports, memoirs, esti- 
mates, plans, drawings and models relating to the duties above enumera- 
ted, to the Engineer Bureau at Richmond. 
IV. The locations and plans for the works being thus determined, they 
will be marked out on the ground by the engineers, who will indicate by 
stakes, lines, profiles and other guides, the shape and dimensions of the 
different parts, for the information and government of those who direct 
the troops or laborers employed to do the work. When troops are de- 
tailed to construct temporary defences, they will be in all cases com- 
manded by their officers, who will see that the work is done in exact 
conformity to the plans and directions of the officer of engineers, without 
regard to rank. 
V. When an officer of engineers is charged with directing an expedi- 
tion, or making a reconnoissance requiring the support of an escort, with- 
out Having command of the troops, he will call on the commander of the 
escort to move with, and extend to him all protection necessary to secure 
the success of thejoperation. 
VI. Officers of engineers will not assume, nor be ordered on any duty 
beyond the line of their immediate profession, except by Special order of 
the President. In the operations of the armies of the Confederate States, 
all that appertains to the science of civil or military engineering will be 
assigned by commanders to the officers of engineers serving with their 
forces; and with them will rest the responsibility of a proper execution, 
of the works. The labor will be performed, if possible, by details of 
troops commanded by their officers: in other cases, by hired labor under 
the control of overseers employed by the engineer officers. 
VII. Officers of engineers will not be required to give other supervi- 
sion to the fatigue parties or laborers employed in the construction of 
works, than is necessary to indicate, in a clear and distinct manner to 
those directing the labor, their plans, and the character of the work to be 
done. 
Vm. The senior officer of engineers serving with a Commanding 
General in the field, will transmit to the Engineer Bureau at Richmond 
the reports, plans and journals called for by paragraph 478, Army Regu- 
lations. 
order. 
S. COOPER, 
Jdjutant and Inspector General.