Summary:
In this letter, John C. Fremont, commanding Union forces in western Virginia in
June, 1862, requests reinforcements from President Lincoln. He proposes to take
Staunton, VA, and gain control of railroads in the Valley. He also refers to the
importance of the wheat crop in the Valley, and the advantage the Confederates
derive from the friendly populace.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President United States.
Mount Jackson,
June 15, 1862.
I respectfully remind the President that when assigned to this command I was informed that I should have a corps of 35,000 men. I now ask from the President the fulfillment of this understanding, and ask it only because, under the conditions of the war here, I should be able to render good and immediate service. Such a force would enable me to take Staunton, hold the railroad there, go down through Lexington, seize the railroad between Lynchburg and Newbern, and hold it for Gen. Banks' troops, or destroy it, according to circumstances. Whether from Richmond or elsewhere, forces of the enemy are certainly coming into this region, which the great wheat crop makes a granary for him, and which he will not abandon without a struggle. Casualties have reduced my force to such numbers in many of the regiments as 176, 250, 300, and so on. This makes me very weak, and the small corps scattered about the country, not being within supporting distance of each other, as the topography of the country will show, are exposed to sudden attack by greatly superior force of an enemy, to whom intimate knowledge of country and universal friendship of inhabitants give the advantages of rapidity and secrecy of movements.
I respectfully submit this representation to the President, taking it for granted that it is the duty of his generals to offer for his consideration such impressions as are made by knowledge obtained in operations on the ground.
J. C. FREMONT,
Maj.-Gen.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 12, Serial No. 15, Pages 661, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
