Summary:
Confederate Colonel William B. Taliaferro writes Colonel S. M. Barton in November, 1861, concerning orders, including a directive sending troops back to Staunton.

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Col. S. M. BARTON:

SHAW'S FORK,

November 30, 1861

I expressed to Gen. Loring the telegram from Gen. Cooper to me, and have just received an order from him to proceed to Staunton with my command, and await his further instructions or his arrival.This is directly opposed to the order from Richmond, and I wish you would telegraph the fact to Richmond, so that I can be relieved from all blame. I had made my arrangements for the march via Harrisburg, and can prosecute it according to the schedule forwarded to Col. Harman. Reply to this at Ryan's to-day (this evening).

Very respectfully,

WM. B. TALIAFERRO,
Col., Cmdg. Troops.

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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 51, Serial No. 108, Pages 400-401, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.