Secretary Stanton then wires General Sheridan: WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C., February 4, 1865. Major-General SHERIDAN : Another train was thrown off the track and robbed last night within three and a half miles of Harper's Ferry, in the immediate vicinity of a recent occurrence of like kind. I am apprehensive that General Stevenson is not sufficiently vigilant. The point of intersection of the roads from Charlestown with Shepherdstown, it seems to me, ought to be better guarded than has been done by Stevenson. Will you please give this matter attention? The interruption of trains there seems to be chronic, and may spread if not checked. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. General Sheridan seems to cast all the blame on Colonel Reno, and sends him this tart telegram: CHARLESTOWN, W. VA., February 4, 1865. Colonel M. A. RENO: The country in your vicinity and out for a distance of ten miles is full of Confederate soldiers. With a regiment as strong as yours you should be able to capture many of them, and I will look to you to do so. At every house where you make a capture drive off all stock except one milch-cow, and notify the people that I will put them out of my lines and let their rebel friends take care of them. P. H. SHERIDAN, Major-General. Colonel Reno reports as follows: Sir: I have the honor to report that the party which ran the train off the track on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, crossed at or near Keyes's Ford; had timely information of this crossing and their whereabouts, and would have succeeded in capturing some of them had my orders been obeyed. About 10 P. M. I sent out two parties under command of Lieutenants Guild and Chase. These parties were about 50 strong. Lieutenant Chase was ordered with his command to cover the roads leading to different fords through Bloomery. Lieutenant Guild was ordered to overtake and head off the party, attack them and drive them back. After he left camp, instead of following them up he thought he had better move towards the river, the diametrically opposite direction from his orders. Lieutenant Chase, with good reason, did not expect our men in that direction, and fired into Lieutenant Guild's command. I regret to say that one man, Private Hogeland, Company D, was wounded. I have placed Lieutenant Guild in arrest, and now report him for immediate dismissal, as he is solely responsible for the miscarriage of my plans. I do not design that he be court-martialed, as that would occupy more time than he is worth. He is entirely unfit for a commission, inasmuch as he takes no pains to improve himself, nor does he study to render himself worthy of his position. He, although never what you could charge as drunkenness, is always full, and when not stupefied with whiskey, he is with opium. His performance last night is sufficient evidence to hang him. As far as I can learn, the rebels numbered about 30 men. M. A. RENO, Colonel Commanding Twelfth Pennsylvania Cavalry. General Stevenson sent the above report to General Sheridan, and says: "I forwarded you yesterday Colonel Reno's report of the party and the way in which he did not catch him." Poor Guild was the scape-goat. After the capture we passed back within a half-mile of Colonel Reno's camp, and in a quarter of a mile of Lieutenant Chase's company, and they must have been stupefied also. A few days after this raid General Sheridan sent a regiment of cavalry to Duffield's with the following orders: HEADQUARTERS CAVALRY CORPS, Brigadier-General T. C. DEVIN: General,―The General Commanding directs that you will detail a strong regiment to take position at Duffield's Station, or as near that point as practicable, on the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, with instructions to protect the road in that vicinity. That neighborhood has of late been infested with guerrillas and men from the rebel army who are visiting their friends, getting clothes, plundering, etc. These men have of late committed depredations on the railroad, throwing trains off the track, and robbing passengers. The commanding officer will make dispositions to prevent this in future in that vicinity. He will send out parties to scour the country and dispose of the lawless ruffians who are committing the outrages spoken of. No quarter will be given these persons who have destroyed by their actions the right to be treated as prisoners of war. When a guerrilla is found on a plantation, or at a habitation, the fences, etc., of the farm will be destroyed, and the citizens generally will be given to understand. that if they continue to harbor these villains they will be turned from their houses and sent through our lines. The regiment will seek an eligible cantonment near Duffield's Station, and construct shelter for men and horses. Supplies will be drawn from Duffield's Station. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, A. F. HAYDEN, Assistant Adjutant-General. If men in the discharge of their duty as soldiers, endeavoring to break the enemy's line of communication and cut off his supplies are to be treated as lawless ruffians and villains, has the vocabulary a name foul enough for the infamy of the man who burned the houses, barns, and grain of inoffending citizens, women, and children, and boasted himself that a crow in passing over this waste would have to carry his rations? In execution of his fiendish purpose, and on account of the capture of two members of our company (mere boys), who had gone home to see their mothers, he issued General McMillan this order: "I want you to send to the house of Mrs. Alexander, where the guerrillas James Washington and Herbert Alexander were captured, and drive off all stock except one milch-cow, and burn every rail on the Claymont farm as a punishment for harboring guerrillas, notify the people in that vicinity that I will destroy every farm and drive off all stock wherever I find them harboring guerrillas, and put the people outside my lines in the direction of Richmond. Report the execution of this order. P. H. SHERIDAN, Major-General. Sheridan was afraid that General McMillan had a heart that could feel, and the imperious mandate of humanity would alleviate the severity of his order, if not cause it to be ignored, and he therefore requires McMillan to report its execution. Claymont at the date of this order was occupied by defenceless ladies, and this was known to Sheridan when he indited his order, as is shown on the face of the order itself. Just a short time previous to the capture of Washington and Alexander, John E. Boyd, of Berkeley county, had been taken prisoner by one of Sheridan's scouting parties, and on the day of his capture this order was issued: GENERAL ORDERS NO. 8. HEADQUARTERS MIDDLE MILITARY DIVISION, January 12, 1865. A Confederate soldier, giving his name as John E. Boyd, caught within the lines of the army under circumstances which leave no doubt that he is a spy of the enemy's, and his manner since capture confirming this, the said John E. Boyd will at 12 o'clock, meridian, to-morrow, January 13, 1865, or as soon thereafter as practicable, be hung by the neck until he is dead. The Provost-Marshal-General of this army is charged with the execution of this order. By command of Major-General Sheridan. C. KINGSBERRY, JR., Assistant Adjutant-General. In the practice of my profession, in the progress of a murder trial, the duty was devolved on me of asking for a continuance of the case, on the ground that the indictment had just been returned and the prisoner had not sufficient time to prepare his defence. The court, in overruling the motion, said, "The Constitution guaranteed the prisoner a speedy trial, and he was going to give it to him." Sheridan in that case not only invoked this provision of the Constitution as interpreted by the learned judge, but he eliminated also the right of trial, either by jury or drum-head court-martial. I am glad, however, to state that our friend escaped the execution of this |