Summary:
Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton commanded the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the
Potomac which included the 17th Pa. Cavalry. Pleasonton provides a list of
casualties.
Major-General HUMPHREYS, Chief of Staff.
November 29, 1863
GENERAL
I shall order General Merritt to re-enforce General Gregg with one of his brigades. This will secure the road from Ely's Ford to the plank road, and Gregg's command ought to be able to protect that. Indeed, that whole road is so wooded that cavalry cannot act to any advantage upon it.
General Custer has just reported that Fitz. Lee's division of cavalry is in his front; that the enemy has his scouts in Culpeper, and that this afternoon his signal officer read a dispatch from Clark's Mountain stating, "There is nothing but cavalry on the other side of the river." This was read from a house near Morton's Ford.
After sending a brigade from Merritt to Gregg, his force alone will not be adequate to protect the trains on the other side of the river. Custer and Merritt together will make about 4,000 men, the number Fitz. Lee has, and should Custer be removed from the fords to this side of the river, the enemy's cavalry can attack any weak point of our trains to advantage. With the present information I would recommend that General Custer remain where he is, as the best position he can occupy, to cover the trains and give timely notice of any danger to them. Gregg with three brigades should be able to cover the communication on this side against cavalry, and if infantry is sent against him it will be necessary to send him some also.
Please inform me if this explanation meets the views of the general.
Very respectfully,
A. PLEASONTON, Major-General.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I., Volume 29. Part I, Reports., Serial No. 48, Page 802, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
