A manuscript orderly book of 1st Lt. Thomas J. Baird of the U. S. Army, kept during 1818-22 while commanding detachments of artillery at stations in New York, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and Virginia. The book is a single bound volume (33 cm.) of 85 leaves, with 134 pages of manuscript entries in various hands. The entries begin on 16 November 1818, with Baird assuming command of the detachment. Entries follow on a regular basis for the next four years, to 17 October 1822, when Baird was at Bellona Arsenal. The content of the manuscript changes noticeably with Baird's first arrival at Amelia Island (October 1819). Prior to that time, Baird's entries consist mostly of copies of orders relevant to his command, from general orders to garrison orders issued by Baird himself. There is also a full descriptive roll of the 70 privates and musicians who had enlisted in Baird's detachment in 1818-19, as well as a register of desertions (41, in about a year) and a clothing account. These various rolls contain entries up to August 1819. After Baird's initial appointment as commissary, his entries consist almost exclusively of copies of his official correspondence. Much of this, of course, is dedicated to matters of subsistence and supply. But given the frequent diversity of Baird's duties, the letters necessarily touch on many additional aspects of command, as well as the distinctive cultural and climatic conditions faced by soldiers posted to the Southern coast. Of particular note are the letters from Amelia Island (1819 and 1820-21). Not only was the island remote and difficult to supply; it was the object of an ongoing territorial dispute with Spain, resolved only in 1821 when the U.S. took formal possession of the Florida territory.

Bound in to the front of the volume is a printed title page for The Papers of Captain Thomas J. Baird, Third Regiment of Artillery, U. S. Army. Consisting of Letters Received and Copies of Letters Written by Him, Together with Other Documents, 1813 to 1828. Being the Period of his Military Life. The text continues: "Arranged by Henry C. Baird. In Six Volumes . . . Philadelphia: 1848." "Vol IV 1825-1826 has been crossed out, and the words "Supplemental volume" added in manuscript. It does not appear that Baird's papers were ever published. This was likely a title page prepared for a multi-volume collection of Baird's manuscript letters by his son, Henry C. Baird, a Philadelphia publisher.