Summary:
General Phillip Sheridan reports to Henry Halleck in October, 1864, on operations
in the Shenandoah Valley. Sheridan discusses raids on Staunton, and supplies
destroyed near the town. He also estimates the extent and importance of the
damage done to the Confederate cause, and mentions prominent Valley farmers
moving north to escape the Confederacy.
Maj.-Gen. HALLECK,
Chief of Staff:
HARRISONBURG, VA.,
October 1, 1864--6 p. m.
(Received 7 a. m. 3d.)
Your telegram of the 28th received. My cavalry was rapidly pushed to Staunton and Waynesborough, some of the results of which I have telegraphed. All the crops, mills, &c., have been destroyed from Staunton to Mount Crawford, which is my present front. I will make another raid with cavalry and infantry to Staunton and Lexington. Early was driven out of the Valley, and only saved himself by getting through Brown's Gap in the night, and has probably taken position at Charlottesville, and will fortify, holding Waynesborough and Rockfish Gap. I strongly advise Gen. Grant to terminate this campaign by the destruction of the crops in the Valley and the means of planting, and the transfer of the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps to his army at Richmond. This is my best judgment. With Crook's force, the Valley can be held. If this course is not deemed best, then the Orange and Alexandria Railroad should be opened. If it is, it will require an army corps at least to protect it. This force cannot be furnished from this army; and wherever these troops come from, it will be loss of that number of men from the fighting force. There is no objective point, except Lynchburg, and it cannot be invested on the line of this Valley, and the investing army supplied. What we have destroyed and can destroy in this Valley in worth millions of dollar to the rebel Government. A large number of the best farmers of the Valley are moving north, taking advantage of our presence to get out. If it is deemed best to transfer this army to the east side of the Blue Ridge, the repairs on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad should be commenced at once, and a notification sent to me.
P. H. SHERIDAN,
Maj.-Gen.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 43, Serial No. 91, Pages 250, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
