"Do you think that particular move will fool any one?"- April 1864

                                               YORKTOWN, April 29, 1864.

Col. J.W. SHAFFER,

Chief of Staff:

I understood the general that the troops to go to West Point were those that were to land last. If that is the case you must give me more information than I possess before I can make the detail. Is the work to be begun now, or only when the order to move comes? The quartermaster must furnish transportation and lumber. Do you think that particular move will fool any one?

                                                              W. F. SMITH,

                                                            Major- General.

   
     
 
                              FORTRESS MONROE, April 29, 1864.

General SMITH,

    Yorktown:

I have telegraphed Terry to have a brigade in readiness to move to-morrow morning with ten days rations and 60 rounds of ammunition. You will issue such orders as are necessary to effect the object desired at West Point. Transportation is ordered up for the purpose. They had better leave to-morrow by noon.

                                                                    J.W. SHAFFER,
                                                      Colonel and Chief of Staff.

           



  
         HDQRS. U. S. TROOPS AT YORKTOWN AND GLOUCESTER PT.,
                                                                               Yorktown, Va., April 29 , 1864.

Brig. Gen. A. H. TERRY,

Comdg. Tenth Army Corps, Gloucester Point, Va.:

GENERAL: I am instructed by the major-general commanding to direct you to be in readiness to send a brigade to West Point to-morrow, the 30th instant. The major-general also directs that if you have an engineer company they must also be ready to move with the brigade to repair the landing at that place. You will have the command furnished with eight days rations. The quartermasters department will furnish the necessary transportation.

I have the honor to be, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

                                                       CAMPBELL TUCKER,
                                        First Lieutenant and Aide-de-Camp,





    

          HDQRS. U. S. TROOPS AT YORKTOWN AND GLOUCESTER PT.,
                                                                                Yorktown, Va., April 29, 1864.

Brig. Gen. A. H. TERRY,

Comdg. Tenth Army Corps, Gloucester Point, Va.:

GENERAL: The major-general commanding directs that the brigade ordered to be in readiness to move to-morrow shall be furnished with ten days rations instead of eight, as before directed. The major-general also directs that 200 or 300 intrenching tools be sent with the brigade. Further instructions will be sent you to-morrow.

I have the honor to be, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

                                                             CAMPBELL TUCKER,
                                              First Lieutenant and Aide-de-Camp. 




-The war of the rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies. ; Series 1 - Volume 33

A passing word on Colonel John Wilson Shaffer . . .

While at New Orleans, Col. J. W. Shaffer, a personal friend of Mr. Lincoln, was detailed to me as chief quartermaster, in which capacity he served upon my staff. He also went with me to the Army of the James, and was there promoted to be chief of my staff. He served as such until he went home in the summer of 1864 suffering with a disease which afterwards caused his death, having been appointed governor of Utah Territory. His services, although not of a character that makes men so distinguished in a campaign as to find a place in history, were of the greatest value in whatever position he found himself.

- Butler's Book: Autobiography and Personal Reminiscences of Major-General Benjamin Butler
Benjamnin F. Butler