Summary:
On May 8, 1862, Confederate troops under General Thomas J. Jackson attacked and
defeated Union forces under Robert Milroy at McDowell. In this letter, Union
General Nathaniel P. Banks, possibly unaware of these developments, reports to
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton on Jackson's movements. He speculates Jackson
might be headed south to Staunton.
Hon. E. M. STANTON,
Secretary of War:
NEW MARKET,
May 9, 1862
Your dispatch received. Gen. Fremont's opinions as to the position of Jackson are correct. He has not been in front of Gen. McDowell unless within two or three days past. Ewell's division has been at Elk Run, between blue Ridge and Shenandoah, on the road from Harrisonburg to Stanardsville, until now. Our scouts report the camp-fires as seen yesterday. He has four brigades--12,700 men--and four batteries, of four guns. Jackson was at Port Republic, 6 miles above; Ewell on Shenandoah when my command left Harrisonburg. He is thought to have moved south toward Staunton or possibly toward Richmond. If Gen. Fremont reports him with Edward Johnson against Milroy he is most likely correct. Such movement would accord with all our information up to this day. Johnson has about 3,000, Jackson 8,000 men, making with Ewell over 20,000 men. They are not more than 20 miles distant from each other unless Jackson has moved south recently. They will concentrate against any small force left in the valley. there are no troops at Gordonsville, Madison, or Culpeper unless arrived there recently. Ewell's division was the last that left Manassas, the Rappahannock, Culpeper, and Madison. I have reported these facts from day to day to the Department. Hundreds of fugitives come through these places into our lines because there are no troops there.
N. P. BANKS,
Maj.-Gen., Commanding.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 12, Serial No. 18, Pages 154, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
