Summary:
Union General David Hunter's Assistant Adjutant P. G. Bier issues orders from
occupied Staunton in June, 1864, concerning preparation for further advances in
the Shenandoah Valley.
Staunton, Va.,
June 9, 1864.
This army will resume its march as follows: Gen. Sullivan's division will move to-morrow morning at 7 a. m. southward via Greenville to Midway with the Artillery Brigade, followed by its ambulance and supply trains. Gen. Crook's division will move at the same hour via Middlebrook to Brownsburg, accompanied by its artillery and followed by its ambulance and supply trains. The First Cavalry Division, with its train, will move to-morrow morning at 3.30 a. m. via Waynesborough toward Tye River Gap, after menacing the enemy's position at Waynesborough. The Second Cavalry Division for the advance of Crook's column. Division commanders will communicate to the commanders of the columns right and left of them and to general headquarters any important information obtained during the march, and also the position taken at night.
General headquarters will march with First Infantry Division, Brig.-Gen. Sullivan. The Firs Cavalry Division will send scouts to penetrate, if possible, to the Charlottesville and Lynchburg railroad from time to time, for the purpose of destroying the telegraph upon the road, of obtaining information of the enemy's movements and strength, and of destroying any railroad will furnish one regiment as a rear guard. Each division commander will detail one company from each brigade to collect supplies for the troops. The supplies thus obtained will be placed in the wagons in rear of the division and distributed by the quartermasters and commissaries on their arrival in camp. No other troops, except those especially detailed, will be permitted to forage, and all straggling for that or other purposes will be punished in the severest manner. Regimental and company officers will be held responsible for the enforcement of this order. Division commanders are enjoined to keep their respective commands always ready for action.
By command of Maj.-Gen. Hunter:
P. G. BIER,
Assistant Adjutant-Gen.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 37, Serial No. 70, Pages 614-615, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
