GENERAL ORDERS, 
NO. 20. 
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, 
Adjutant General’s Office, 
Washington, February 23, 1862. 
I..A new military department, to be called the Department of the 
Gulf, is hereby constituted It will comprise all the coast of the Gulf 
of Mexico west of Pensacola harbor, and so much of the Gulf States as 
may be occupied by the forces under Major General B. F. Butler, 
United States Volunteers. The headquarters for the present will be 
movable, wherever the General Commanding may be. 
By command of Major General McClellan: 
L. THOMAS, 
Adjutant General. 
Official: 
Assistant Adjutant General.