Original: In November 1864 , George Stoneman -- deputy commander of the Department of the Ohio and in charge of all Union cavalry units in eastern Tennessee -- proposed an expedition into southwest Virginia to disrupt the production of supplies and facilities beneficial to the Confederacy .
Simplified: Background Union army Proposition Major General George Stoneman , commander of the Union Army in Kentucky and Tennessee , proposed another expedition into southwest Virginia to destroy all facilities and supplies of benefit to the Confederate war effort .