 On the evening of October 3, 1864, Philip Sheridan, commander of the Army of the Shenandoah, he received some rather startling news. His chief engineer officer, someone he loved like a son, First Lieutenant John Rogers Meigs, had been killed. Now, historically, we know that Meigs was killed by three Confederate scouts from Brigadier General Williams Wickham's command while he was conducting a survey near Dayton.