Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Major-General Robert Patterson to Brigadier-General Benjamin F. Butler, April 28, 1861

Headquarters, Military Department of Washington, PHILADELPHIA, April 28th, 1861

Brig. General B. F. BUTLER

GENERAL: I am directed by the Major General to call your earnest attention to the necessity of keeping the Railroad in repair from Annapolis to the Junction & guarding it at all times.

He suggests that you should personally pass along the line as frequently as possible, and should require the greatest care to be exercised in preserving the engines & cars from all injury. Troops should be stationed at all points, with orders to shoot instantly any person or persons found in the act of injuring the road or doing anything to impede the trains.

Wanton firing of arms should be strictly prohibited along the line; it causes a great waste of ammunition & interferes in various ways with the orderly performance of duties.

Very respectfully your obedient servant,
CRAIG BIDDLE, A.D.C.

SOURCE: Jessie Ames Marshall, Editor, Private and Official Correspondence of Gen. Benjamin F. Butler During the Period of the Civil War, Volume 1: April 1860 – June 1862, p. 54

No comments: