Summary:
Union General Wesley Merritt's Assistant Adjutant J. Spreadbury makes
arrangements to send troops to the rear, via Staunton, with Confederate
prisoners taken in March, 1865.
WAYNESBOROUGH, VA.,
March 2, 1865.
A force to consist of one regiment from each brigade, the regiments to average not less than 150 men, will move to the rear, via Staunton, to-morrow morning early, with the prisoners and captures. The commanding officer of the Third Division will detail a field officer, not lower in rank than a lieutenant-colonel, to command this force. One of the best officers in the division will be selected for this important duty. He will be ordered to report to these headquarters, for special instructions, at 4 a. m. to-morrow. The dismounted men of the commands will be out of the column and accompany the force detailed above. Each division commander will detail a staff officer to attend to the organization of the force from his command, and to see that it is properly started on the march.
By command of Brevet Maj.-Gen. Merritt:
J. SPREADBURY,
Acting Assistant Adjutant-Gen.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 46, Serial No. 96, Pages 793, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
