Robert C. Schenck to W. H. Chesebruugh, March 29, 1863

Lieut. Col. W. H. CHESEBRUUGH, Assistant Adjutant-General :

Reports from Kanawha region show that some rebel cavalry force has come in from Kentucky; a brisk skirmish took place day before yesterday at Hurricane Bridge, about 12 miles south of Red House, in which the enemy were driven off. Report to-night of one of the Kanawha boats being fired into by several hundred rebels below Red House, on the Kanawha. General Scammon is watchful and active, but his force is, of course, mostly on the Upper Kanawha.

The Big Sandy Valley, which is the key to the Lower Kanawha region, is in charge of the Department of the Ohio, and the opening has been made by the recent retreat of the forces in Eastern Kentucky.

I have no doubt General Burnside will correct that at once, and am confident the present movement cannot be more than a petty raid.

GENERAL ORDERS, HDgRS. MIDDLE DEPT., 8TH ARMY CORPS, No. 21. i Baltimore, Md., March 29, 1863.

I. Officers and soldiers of the army of the so-called Coutederate States having in many instances, by capture or by stripping the bodies of the dead, possessed themselves of uniform, clothing, and equipments ‘of officers and soldiers of the United States, which articles of uniform they have afterward worn and used to aid them in making their way within the lines of this army, and to enable them to approach and deceive, and sometimes make prisoners of, those who did not recognize them, by reason of such disguise, as enemies, it is ordered: That hereafter any rebel officer or soldier who shall be found and taken, either within the lines or otherwise, wearing any article of clothing, or any accouterment belonging to the usual uniform of a Union officer or soldier, so as to make such rebel officer or soldier appear as an officer or soldier of the United States, shall not be held or considered as a prisoner of war, but shall be treated and dealt with as a spy. And proof of the possession and wearing by a rebel offieer or soldier of such Union uniform shall be taken to be sufficient evidence in itself of his character as a spy by any court-martial or military commission before which he may be ordered for trial.

I. I. Maj. Gen. R. H. Milroy, commanding the Second Division of this army corps, is directed to communicate copies of this order, by flag of pe me the commander of the rebel forces in the Valley of the Shenandoah.

By command of Major-General Schenck :