Today in History:

328 Series I Volume XXXIV-II Serial 62 - Red River Campaign Part II

Page 328 LOUISIANA AND THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. Chapter XLVI.

move secretly through the brush and by-paths. A sufficient number of citizen guides and scouts must be attached to each squadron so that the commanding officers will be able to move their troops at any hour and be kept fully advised of the movements of guerrillas.

Third. Every possible protection will be afforded to the operatives who are, or may be hereafter, engaged in the construction of the Pacific Railroad. When deemed necessary they will be required to have their quarters at centralized points, and small guards stationed at them to protect the property. The places where heavy work is being done will be done, if practicable, points for stationing troops for excursions into the country.

Fourth. The resettlement of the country and the restoration of the civil law will receive your especial care and attention. The sectional bitterness and personal hatreds that exist int eh border, and the fears of the people on each side of your sub-district, will embarrass you in the first of these acts, while the long rule of anarchy and disregard of lawful obligations will require that the civil officers should be encouraged in every consisted mode to the energetic performance of their duties; and, in furtherance of this object, your troops will be instructed to defer to and assist them in every case when the attempt to exercise the power is made. The general instructions in Order Numbers 63, series 1863, Department of the Missouri,* will afford you the necessary instructions in cases where the interference with the officers of the civil law becomes necessary.

Fifth. The greatest difficulty that you will have will be in allaying the passions that have grown out of what is known as the "border warfare." This began in the infancy of Kansas, when a portion of the people of Missouri endeavored to force upon an unwilling people the curse of slavery, and has since grown into a war of extermination, and under its cover every foul bird had flown to the border as being the field for its operations. The people of Kansas must be protected by preventing the organization or concentration of guerrilla bands in the border counties for the purpose of making raids, and by keeping the country constantly patrolled as required in paragraph second of this communication, this can be done. If you find your present force insufficient for the purpose you will make requisition for more troops and call into service every able-bodied man on the border. In this connection the commanding general desires that you will make such arrangements with the commanding officers of the troops on the Kansas border in the Department of Kansas as will insure an effective co-operation in furthering this object. In order to allay as far as possible the sectional bitterness that now exists between the people of Kansas and Missouri you will instruct the officers of your command that the people must be treated with the utmost deference and kindness that is consistent with an efficient discharge of their duties. If an emergency should render it necessary, you will please communicate direct to the commanding general of the Department of Kansas any information of the movements of guerrillas that you may deem of importance, and, at the same time, forward copies of such communication to these headquarters.

Sixth. In an energetic discharge of your duties you will find it necessary to pursue a severe course toward the bad men who infest the country. The orders of the War Department, Department of Missouri, and from these headquarters will be a sufficient guide for your

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*See Vol. XXII, Part II p. 357.

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Page 328 LOUISIANA AND THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. Chapter XLVI.