rest of Averell's cavalry, to defend or move up the Shenandoah Valley. Ten would go with General Ord, six, with General Crook, besides the Thirty-sixth Ohio, and four would be posted on the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from Monocacy to Parkersburg, among them two Maryland and one Virginia regiments, raised for local defense, and necessary to guard our stores and depots and to load and unload trains.

FRANZ SIGEL,

Major-General.

GENERAL ORDERS,
HDQRS. DEPT. OF WEST VIRGINIA, Numbers 14. Cumberland, Md., April 12, 1864.

I. Commanding officers at stations within this department, between the Monocacy River and Parkersburg, are directed to send all deserters from the enemy, guerrillas, agents, and spies in the interest of the so-called Confederate States, and also refugees from sections held by the rebels, to the commanding officer at Harper's Ferry, Va., or to the provost-marshal-general of the Department, at Cumberland, Md., or to the senior officer at Clarksburg, Va., as may be most convenient. Those coming within our lines at points in the Kanawha Valley will be reported to the commanding general of the Third Division, at Charleston, W. Va.

II. Strict examination and prompt disposition will be made in each case. Deserters may ordinarily be discharged upon taking the oath of allegiance to the Government of the United States, and may receive employment on fortifications or other public works within the department; but in cases where it is considered unsafe to allow them to remain, or be employed in the immediate vicinity of our lines, they will be sent to some point in the interior and there be discharged. Descriptive lists will be forwarded weekly to the military provost-marshal-general of the department, at Cumberland, showing the regiment or other organization to which they belonged, the place of residence and enlistment, and the disposition ordered. Refugees will be discharged after examination, and may employed at any place within the lines, but all persons suspected of being guerrillas, spies, &c., will be sent to the provost-marshal at these headquarters for further examination and trial.

III. No persons residing within this department, on or south of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and not belonging to the Army of the United States, will be allowed to keep or bear arms, except the following:

First. Those belonging to the State militia, who are able to furnish proof that they are accepted and acknowledged as members of that organization. For this purpose they must be provided with the necessary papers.

Second. Those belonging to companies organized by His Excellency the Governor of the State of West Virginia, under a special act of the Legislature, and acting as scouts.

Third. Scouts and agents sent out from department, division, or separate brigade headquarters.

All other persons, loyal or disloyal, will deliver their arms to the nearest commanding officer or military provost-marshal, with their names affixed thereto, so that they may be properly cared for and returned when the public safety will admit. All such arms will be