HEADQUARTERS MIDDLE
MILITARY DIVISION,
November 27, 1864.
Bvt. Maj. Gen. WESLEY MERRITT,
Commanding First Cavalry
Division:
GENERAL: You are hereby directed to proceed to-morrow
morning at 7 o'clock with the two brigades of your division now in camp to the
east side of the Blue Ridge, via Ashby's Gap, and operate against the
guerrillas in the district of country bounded on the south by the line of the
Manassas Gap Railroad as far east as White Plains, on the east by the Bull Run
range, on the west by the Shenandoah River, and on the north by the Potomac.
This section has been the hotbed of lawless bands, who have, from time to time,
depredated upon small parties on the line of army communications, on safe
guards left at houses, and on all small parties of our troops. Their real
object is plunder and highway robbery. To clear the country of these parties
that are bringing destruction upon the innocent as well as their guilty
supporters by their cowardly acts, you will consume and destroy all forage and
subsistence, burn all barns and mills and their contents, and drive off all
stock in the region the boundaries of which are above described. This order
must be literally executed, bearing in mind, however, that no dwellings are to
be burned and that no personal violence be offered to the citizens. The
ultimate results of the guerrilla system of warfare is the total destruction of
all private rights in the country occupied by such parties. This destruction
may as well commence at once, and the responsibility of it must rest upon the
authorities at Richmond, who have acknowledged the legitimacy of guerrilla
bands. The injury done this army by them is very slight. The injury they have
indirectly inflicted upon the people and upon the rebel army may be counted by
millions. The Reserve Brigade of your division will move to Snickersville on
the 29th. Snickersville should be your point of concentration, and the point
from which you should operate in destroying toward the Potomac. Four days'
subsistence will be taken by the command. Forage can be gathered from the
country through which you pass. You will return to your present camp, via
Snicker's Gap, on the fifth day.
By command of Maj. Gen. P. H. Sheridan:
JAS. W. FORSYTH,
Lieutenant-Colonel
and Chief of Staff.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
43, Part 1 (Serial No. 91), p. 679
