Tuesday, May 2.-The troops left Staunton this morning and returned toward Winchester, leaving large numbers of unparoled soldiers in the community. Rosser and Jackson, with a few followers, left yesterday for the Southwest. * Monday, May 8.-Went to Staunton to a meeting of the people called for an expression of sentiments in reference to the state of the country, and to take steps to restore the civil government. Mr. Stuart was made chairman, and a committee was sent to draft resolutions. They reported, through Mr. Sheffey, a series of résolutions, declaring that armed resistance has ceased in this county; that the only way to make our laws conform to the condition of the country, from necessity, is to call a convention on the basis of the House of Delegates, and appointing a committee to go to Richmond and see if the Federal authorities will allow such a body to meet and deliberate. Colonel Baldwin explained the resolutions in some forcible remarks, and they were unanimously adopted. The chairman was authorized to appoint the committee. * * * Federal troops coming up Valley again, said to have encamped at Harrisonburg yesterday. FEBRUARY 27-APRIL 23, 1865.-Operations in the Shenandoah Valley. Mar. SUMMARY OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS. 3-8, 1865.-Movement of convoy of prisoners from Waynesborough to Winchester, Va., with skirmishes (5th) at Harrisonburg and (7th) near Mount Jackson and at Rude's Hill. 13, 1865.-Skirmish near Charlestown, W. Va. 14, 1865.--Skirmish at Woodstock, Va. 16, 1865.-Scout from near Winchester to Front Royal, Va. 16-17, 1865.-Scout from Summit Point, through Kabletown and Myerstown, to Shenandoah Ferry, W. Va. 17-19, 1865.-Scout from Winchester to Edenburg, Va. 20, 1865.-Scout to Kabletown, Myerstown, and Myers' Ford, W. Va. 20-21, 1865.-Scout from Winchester to Edenburg, Va., with skirmish (21st) : near Fisher's Hill. 20-25, 1865.-Scout from Harper's Ferry into Loudoun County, Va., with skirmishes (21st) near Hamilton and (23d) at Goose Creek. 27-29, 1865.-Scout from Winchester to Woodstock, Va. Apr. 29, 1865.-Scout from Stephenson's Depot, Va., to Smithfield, W. Va. 30, 1865.-Affair near Patterson's Creek, W. Va. 6, 1865.-Affair near Charlestown, W. Va. 11-12, 1865.-Scout from Winchester to Timber Ridge, W. Va. 21, 1865.-Surrender of majority of Mosby's command. 23, 1865.-Transfer of headquarters of Middle Military Division from Winchester, Va., to Washington, D. C. REPORTS. No. 1.-Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, U. S. Army, commanding the Middle Military Division, the Department of West Virginia, and the Middle Department, including operations February 27, 1865-August 6, 1866. No. 2.-Col. John L. Thompson, First New Hampshire Cavalry, of operations March 3-8. No. 3.-Lieut. John M. Webb, Ninth New York Cavalry, of operations March 14. No. 4.-Maj. David T. Bunker, Third Massachusetts Cavalry, of operations March 16. No. 5.-Lieut. Col. John B. Mead, Eighth Vermont Infantry, of operations March 16-17. No. 6. Maj. Charles C. Brown, Twenty-second New York Cavalry, of operations March 17-19. No. 7.-Capt. Henry P. Underhill, One hundred and sixtieth New York Infantry, of operations March 20. No. 8.-Capt. William H. Oliver, Fourth New York Cavalry, of operations March 20-21. No. 9.-Col. Marcus A. Reno, Twelfth Pennsylvania Cavalry, of operations March 20-25. No. 10.-Maj. William Russell, jr., Assistant Adjutant-General, U. S. Army, of operations March 27-29. No. 11.-Capt. Henry C. Inwood, One hundred and sixty-fifth New York Infantry, of operations March 29. No. 12.-Brig. Gen. Samuel S. Carroll, U S. Army, commanding Second Infantry No. 14.-General Robert E. Lee, C. S. Army, of operations March 5-7. No. 1. Report of Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock, U. S. Army, commanding the Middle Military Division, the Department of West Virginia, and the Middle Department, including operations February 27, 1865–August 6, 1866. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI, The ADJUTANT-GENERAL U. S. ARMY, Washington, D. C.: GENERAL: I have the honor herewith to inclose a brief report of the military operations in the Middle Military Division, the Department of West Virginia, and in the Middle Military Department, while commanded by me during portions of the years 1865 and 1866. The long delay in transmitting this report has been occasioned by the constant pressure of public business, which has prevented me from preparing it sooner. I request that it may be placed on file with my former reports of military operations now in your office, so that in this respect the records of the various commands which I have held may be complete. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, WINF'D S. HANCOCK, Major-General, Commanding. HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE MISSOURI, Fort Leavenworth, Kans., February 18, 1867. GENERAL: I have the honor to submit the following brief report of the operations in the Middle Military Division, the Department of West Virginia, and the Middle Military Department during the years 1865 and 1866: On the 26th day of February, 1865 (being then engaged in organizing the First Veteran Army Corps, at Washington, D. C.), I received. an order to proceed without delay to Winchester, Va., and to assume) command of the Department of West Virginia, and the Middle Military Division, temporarily (relieving Major-General Sheridan), under the assignment of the President of the United States. I left Washington the same day, and arrived at Winchester about 2 a. m. on the following morning, when I relieved Major-General Sheridan, who moved out that morning with the cavalry forces under his command toward Staunton, Va. The Middle Military Division then embraced the Army of the Shenandoah; the Department of Washington, Major-General Augur commanding; the Department of Maryland [Middle Department] commanded by Maj. Gen. Lewis Wallace; the Department of Pennsylvania, MajorGeneral Cadwalader commanding; and the Department of West Virginia, of which last Major-General Sheridan had exercised the command after the capture of Major-General Crook. My headquarters were established at Winchester, as the point where I could most readily and promptly obtain information of the movements of the enemy; but Winchester being without the limits of West Virginia, I decided to remove.the headquarters of that department to Cumberland, Md., and in view of such change sought and obtained the permission of the War Department to assign Brig. Gen. S. S. Carroll, U. S. Volunteers, on his supposed rank of brevet major general, to the command thereof; but was notified a few days afterward that General Carroll had not received the brevet of major-general, and with great regret I was obliged to relieve this gallant officer. Major-General Emory was then directed by me to assume command of that department, with his headquarters at Cumberland, Md. General Carroll was assigned to the command of a district extending from Sleepy Creek to Clarksburg, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad; Brigadier-General Lightburn, U. S. Volunteers, commanded the First Separate Brigade, stationed along the railroad from Clarksburg to Parkersburg; the post of Wheeling was also under his command. Brig. Gen. J. D. Stevenson commanded a district extending from the Monocacy to Sleepy Creek, including Harper's Ferry; Brigadier-General Seward commanding the post at Martinsburg, Va., Brigadier-Generals Hayes and Duval commanding provisional brigades, west of Cumberland, stationed along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Parkersburg branch of that line. Two regiments of troops, the men principally mounted, were stationed in the Kanawha Valley, under the command of Colonel Oley. Brevet. Major-General Torbert, U. S. Volunteers, commanded the cavalry in the Valley which had been left there by General Sheridan when I succeeded him in the command. Brigadier-Generals Sullivan and Max Weber were under my command at Frederick City. They were unassigned. Upon my arrival at Winchester I immediately began preparations to concentrate as large a force as possible at that point, and collecting supplies and transportation, preparatory to a movement against the enemy down the Valley. I found that by the reports there were about 60,000 men for duty in the division, including twelve new regiments from Ohio, Indiana, New York, and Pennsylvania, which had been ordered to report to me. A camp of organization was established at Halltown, about four miles from Harper's Ferry, composed of two divisions of infantry, one of which was commanded by Bvt. Maj. Gen. John R. Brooke, U. S. Volunteers, the other by Bvt. Maj. Gen. Thomas W. Egan, U. S. Volunteers. One brigade of the First Army Corps was ordered from Camp Stoneman, near Washington, to Winchester, and another brigade of infantry. from the Department of West Virginia, under Brigadier-General Duval, U. S. Volunteers, the two forming a division, which I placed under the command of Brig. Gen. S. S. Carroll, U. S. Volunteers. A division of the Nineteenth Army Corps, commanded by Brigadier-General Dwight, U. S. Volunteers, was in position in front of Winchester, covering the roads leading down the Valley. Brig. Gen. James D. Fessenden, who had a brigade of that division, was in command also of the town of Winchester. In Pleasant Valley, near Harper's Ferry, there was a "dismounted camp" of about 6,000 cavalry, who, at that time, could not be mounted and brought into the field on account of the great scarcity of horses, and the demand for them in the Army of the Potomac. I made use of a portion of these dismounted men, however, to guard the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Not to go further into details, I found that in case a movement was ordered I could march with about 25,000 infantry, about 3,000 cavalry, and a proper proportion of artillery. While engaged in equipping and disciplining this force for active movements, either up the Valley, or wherever it might be ordered, I had detachments of cavalry out daily, scouting the roads south from Winchester; and, with the intention of destroying supplies, said to be collected at Upperville, I directed an expedition to that point, under Col. M. A. Reno, of the Twelfth Pennsylvania Cavalry, composed of his own regiment, and the First Regiment, First Corps, under Colonel Bird. Colonel Reno crossed the Shenandoah at Harper's Ferry, and encountered the enemy, about 300 strong, under Mosby, at Hillsborough. According to the reports received by me Mosby drove the cavalry back in disorder, but hastily retired when he met the infantry skirmishers. The expedition returned having accomplished much less than I had expected it to do. March 30, 1865, a band of guerrillas attacked and captured a passenger train, about ten miles east of Cumberland, robbing the passengers and plundering the mails. I proposed to supply a guard for each passenger train on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which would have effectually prevented depredations of this nature, but the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company declined to carry guards for their own protection, without compensation from the Government, and therefore I did not furnish them. On the 6th of April a body of Mosby's guerrillas surprised the camp of the Loudoun County Rangers near Charlestown, capturing a number of men and nearly all of their horses. The surrender of General Lee's army to General Grant April 9, 1865, rendered further preparations for moving unnecessary. A force was sent up the Valley to parole such detachments of the enemy as might desire to avail themselves of the terms proposed. Mosby, the guerrilla chief, was at first excepted from the offer of the parole, by instructions from the War Department, but afterward, by direction of General Grant, he was tendered the parole by a staff officer, whom I sent to meet him at Millwood for that purpose, but not receiving a favorable reply from him, I arranged to move a large force of infantry and cavalry into Loudoun County, which, co-operating with a force which was to march from Washington City, would, I had every reason to expect, break up Mosby's command entirely, as I had accurate information as to their haunts, habits, places of concealment, &c. It was my intention also, at the same time, to have punished severely those of the inhabitants who harbored or assisted him, but the assassination of President Lincoln, occurring on the night the force from Washington was to have marched (14th of April, 1865), the movement was temporarily postponed, and before preparations to put it into operation had again heen completed, the majority of Mosby's force, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Chapman, came into Winchester, and were paroled (April 21, 1865). Mosby and a few of his followers refused to surrender, and moved off, I was informed, in the direction of Lynchburg. On the 20th of April, by direction of General Grant, I directed Dwight's division of the Nineteenth Army Corps to proceed to Washington, via the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the same day ordered Brigadier-General Chapman's brigade of cavalry to march to that city. April 22, 1865, I received instructions from the War Department to remove the headquarters of the Middle Military Division from Winchester, Va., to Washington City, and, in accordance therewith, proceeded to Washington on the 23d of April, and established my headquarters there, where they remained until July 10, 1865, when, the Middle Military Division having been discontinued, I was assigned by the President to the command of the Middle Military Department, relieving Maj. Gen. Lewis Wallace, U. S. Volunteers. That department. embraced the States of West Virginia, Maryland (except the counties of Montgomery, that part of Anne Arundel lying south of the Annapo lis and Elk Ridge Railroad, and excluding the city of Annapolis, Prince George's, Calvert, Charles, and Saint Mary's), the county of Loudoun, and the Shenandoah Valley as far south as and including Rockingham County, in Virginia, the States of Delaware and Pennsylvania, headquarters at Baltimore, Md. While I held command of that department all of the one-year troops of the First Veteran Army Corps (which had been organized by me, under instructions from the War Department) were mustered out of service, on account of the expiration of their term of enlistment, and that corps as an organization was discontinued. A large number of other volunteer troops were mustered out within the limits of the Middle Department during the time it was commanded by me. In August, 1865, the Second Regiment U. S. Artillery, commanded by Lieut. Col. and Bvt. Brig. Gen. William H. French, U. S. Army, embarked at Fort McHenry, Baltimore, for California. October 13, 1865, the Second and Sixth Regiments U. S. Cavalry, then stationed in Maryland, were ordered away from my commandthe Second Cavalry to the Division of the Mississippi, the Sixth Cavalry to the Department of the Gulf. I retained command of the Middle Military Department until a new arrangement of departments was made by General Orders, No. 59, Adjutant-General's Office, Washington, August 6, 1866, when I was assigned in said order to the command of the Department of the Missouri. I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant, WINF'D S. HANCOCK, Major-General, U. S. Army, Comdg. Department of the Missouri. ADJUTANT-GENERAL U. S. ARMY, Washington, D. C. |