Summary:
Confederate Colonel S. M. Barton writes Colonel Taliaferro concerning operations
in western Virginia including troop movements around Staunton.
Col. W. B. TALIAFERRO,
Cmdg. Troops en route for
Staunton:
Staunton,
November 28, 1861.
COL.:
Col. Harman has forwarded, I believe, some telegrams from Richmond entirely changing all plans heretofore made for your command. Gen. Jackson left here this morning, and I inclose you a copy of the telegram sent by me in duplicate to him. Not having received a reply, I think it not improbable that he deems it unnecessary to make one till he can explain the state of affairs to the War Department. The exhaustion of the teams, the inadequacy of the transportation suggested, the bad state of the roads, and the extreme weather are matters that, I think, are not understood in Richmond. The troops, under the first order, divested themselves of all baggage that could not be transported with them. Under the next they left with only "the necessary camp equipage and ammunition," with the expectation of going by rail on arriving at Staunton after a short march. They are, therefore, unprovided to encounter the privations and sufferings of so long a march as that contemplated by the telegram. I am informed that you gain about twenty-two miles by turning off the turnpike near Ryan's. I therefore feel authorized by the general supervision of this office intrusted to me to direct that you halt your command a few hours that you may receive orders for your future movements, beginning leave to suggest that you gain much time by sending forward a pioneer party to repair the road in your front, which I learn is much washed. An express will start for you immediately upon receipt of a reply from Richmond.
I am, sir, very respectfully,
S. M. BARTON,
Lieut.-Col., 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 51, Serial No. 108, Pages 393, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
