Milroy's operations in the Northwest.
December 12, 1862
The career of the Yankee, General, Milroy, in Northwestern Virginia, is fiercely less brutal than the reign of his rival, Butler, in New Orleans. A few days since Col. Imbod of Augusta, obtained from Mr. Job Parsons copies of two orders, which we append. These orders need no explanation:
Nov. 27, 1862.
You are hereby ordered to report in person or by your representative at my headquarters, in St. George Court Houseon the 28th of November, 1862, to attend to business of vital importance to yourself. And in case of your failure to comply with the above order you must suffer the penalty.
By order of
Brig. Gen. R. H. Milroy.
Horace Kellogg,
Captain, Post Commandant.
On repairing to the headquarters of this insolent Ohio Abolitionist, the following document was handed to Mr. Parsons, by Kellogg, with the remark, "you see the old man (Milroy) is in earnest:"
St. George, Tucker Co., Va., November 28, 1862.
Mr. Job Parsons, (son of Abraham Parsons.)
Sir : In consequence of certain robberies which have been perpetrated upon Union citizens of Tucker county, Va., by bands of guerrillas, you are hereby assessed to the amount of fourteen dollars and twenty five cents ($14.25) to make good their losses; and upon your failure to comply with the above assessment by paying the money over to me by the first day of December, 1862, the following order will be executed, viz:
"If they fail to pay at the end of the time you have named, their houses will be burned and themselves shot, and their property all seized. And be sure that you carry out this threat rigidly, and show them that you are not trilling or to be trifled with.
"You will inform the inhabitants for, ten or fifteen miles around your camp, on all the roads approaching the town, upon which the enemy may approach, that they must dash in and give you notice, and that upon failure of any one to do so their houses will be burned and the men shot."
By order of
Brig. Gen. R. H. Milroy,
Captain Horace Kellogg,
Commanding Post.
Timeline of West Virginia: Civil War and Statehood: November 1862