Today in History:

365 Series I Volume XXII-II Serial 33 - Little Rock Part II

Page 365 Chapter XXXIV. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.-UNION.

with my imperfect knowledge of the facts, I will not at present decide upon the propriety of his conduct in disregarding my orders relative to the Third Wisconsin until I can get more accurate information. You will have to do the best you can with the troops now in your district. You can retain that portion of the Twelfth Kansas which you now have, for the present at least. I am sorry not to be able to give you all the force you need, but everybody is calling on me for troops.

I am much gratified at the success you have already obtained, and have full confidence that your administration will prove a complete success.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. M. SCHOFIELD,

Major-General.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DIST. OF NORTHERN MISSOURI, Numbers 2.
Macon, Mo., July 12, 1863.

The attention of all concerned is hereby called to General Orders, Numbers 63, Headquarters Department of the Missouri, and a strict and unfaltering observance and enforcement thereof is required at the hands of all officers, civil and military, within the district.

The assassins, incendiaries, brigands, and marauders who infest this district, whether claiming to be rebel soldiery or acting under the guise of loyalty, are equally the enemies of peace, order, and good government; no just discrimination can be made between them. Any seeming antagonism in the motives by which they claim to be actuated is utterly contradicted by the harmony and consistency of their villainous practices. These men must be brought to justice-driven from the district or exterminated-together with all who sympathize with or aid them in their hellish work.

To the end, therefore, that the innocent may not suffer with the guilty; that all may understand their duties in the premises,and that security and protection may be afforded to every loyal and law-abiding citizen in the district, it is therefore ordered-

I. That whoever shall voluntarily feed, forage, harbor, lodge, or conceal any person who is in arms against the Government of the United States, or who, having knowledge of the presence of such persons in their neighborhood, shall fail or refuse to give prompt and timely information thereof to the nearest military post or command, shall be regarded and treated in the same manner as the persons to whom such aid and comfort shall have been rendered.

II. That any person or combination of persons who shall hereafter be found within this district with arms in their hands, and not acting under the authority or orders of some legally authorized military or civil officer, shall be arrested, disarmed and held in confinement, subject to orders from these headquarters.

III. It is made the duty of every military officer in the district to arrest and hold in confinement, subject to orders from these headquarters, all persons who, under the guise of military authority or otherwise, shall wrongfully do violence to the person or property of any citizen, provided they shall not be in the custody of the civil authorities.

IV. Any person or combination of persons who shall be found in the act of burning, destroying, or plundering private property, or in the act of committing any violence or outrage upon the person of any citizen or soldier, and who shall refuse to desist when commanded so to do by any


Page 365 Chapter XXXIV. CORRESPONDENCE, ETC.-UNION.