Summary:
Union General Andrew Humphreys writes to General Alfred Pleasonton regarding Confederate deserters captured by Wesley Merritt who reported that two Confederate divisions moved to Gordonsville and Staunton in January, 1864.

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Maj.-Gen. PLEASONTON,
Cmdg. Cavalry Corps:

January 5, 1864

Gen. Merritt reported yesterday that four deserters from Fourth Alabama had come in, stating that Heth's and Johnson's divisions had gone to Gordonsville and Staunton. It was and is important that these deserters should be here as soon as practicable, yet they have not yet reached here. I have telegraphed Gen. Merritt direct to learn if the deserters are certain they belong to the Fourth, or if it is the Fourteenth Alabama, and to what brigade and division they belong.

The major-general commanding directs that Gen. Merritt's attention be called to the orders requiring the forwarding of deserters with all possible dispatch to headquarters, and to report the cause of delay in this instance.

A. A. HUMPHREYS,
Maj.-Gen., Chief of Staff.

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Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 33, Serial No. 60, Pages 349-350, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.