Irrelevant. Sherman gave the order to patrol his supply lines. He is therefore ultimately responsible as a commanding officer for what his men did while patrolling his supply lines.
Sherman did not control Milroy's operations.
Sure he did. Milroy's operations were being conducted as a direct result of Sherman's orders to patrol his supply lines. Had Sherman not ordered his supply lines patrolled, Milroy would not have been there and would not have committed the murders that happened.
Nor does Milroy fall under any but the most tenous definition of "Sherman and his men."
Sure he does. He was acting under Sherman's orders as a part of a dispatch sent by Sherman himself to patrol Sherman's supply lines that were very much a part of Sherman's operations throughout the south.
Sherman's men on the march through Georgia and the Carolinas were very well behavd.
The documented incidents of city burning, looting, and raping suggest otherwise, as does the conduct of Sherman's men on his supply lines.
Further, I find very little mention of this Milroy person on the 'net
Brig. Gen. Robert H. Milroy - fought at McDowell, VA, and 2nd Manassas. He was overrun with heavy casualties at Winchester and removed from his command in the east. By 1864 he was reassigned to Sherman's supply lines under Sherman's dispatch of Thomas and engaged in confederates along the lines in various battles and skirmishes through December 1864. He spent the next few months operating along Sherman's lines in southern Tennessee and northern Alabama and Georgia, which is where the murders of the civilians took place.
A brief web search pulled up a photo and short bio of Milroy online at http://stonewall.hut.ru/leaders/milroy.htm
and no corroboration for your story
As I previously noted you should not expect to find it online. The murders have been neglected by history and only recently appeared in published record beyond the original military records themselves. One of the published accounts is easily accessable in a widely circulated magazine about the war. You may find it documented in the issue of North & South magazine from November 1999.
this supposed order of Sherman's is mentioned neither in "Battle Cry of Freedom" or in "Sherman's march" by Burke Davis.
Then either you are not looking hard enough or both authors ignored a major event in the western campaign. You may find it on the October 26, 1864 at the chronology here where it mentions Sherman dispatching a chunk of his army under Thomas to deal with Hood along the supply lines: http://americancivilwar.com/authors/bobredmond/cumberland_chronology.htm
What you've claimed is not on this website. That's not a big surprise; you've been caught lying before.
Where can I confirm this order you claim Sherman gave to kill civilians?
I like the way this Bob Redmond characterizes the battle of Franklin, saying the AoT was "roughly handled."
In "Shrouds of Glory", the author suggests that the worst hour of the whole war in terms of bloodletting happened that day.
Walt