Summary:
In April, 1862, Robert E. Lee served as military advisor to Jefferson Davis in
Richmond and functioned as a chief of staff. In this dispatch, he coordinates
the movements in the Valley of General Edward Johnson and General Thomas J.
Jackson's men.
Brig. Gen. EDWARD JOHNSON,
Cmdg. Shenandoah
Mountain:
Richmond, Va.,
April 18, 1862.
GEN.:
I have received information that Gen. Jackson has fallen back to Big Spring, some 9 miles from New Market, and that the enemy is still pressing him in the direction of Staunton. If he is forced to continue to retire he will do so by way of Swift Run Gap, in order to form a junction with the forces of Gen. Ewell and hold the Blue Ridge Mountains at that place. You are directed to keep yourself in communication with Gen. Jackson and regulate your movements by those he may be forced to make. If he is compelled to retire to Swift Run Gap it will be necessary for you to move to Staunton; and should you find the enemy marching in too strong force for you to resist upon that place, you must retire toward Waynesborough and endeavor to hold the passage through the Blue Ridge Mountains. In view of these contingencies it is advisable that you send all your heavy baggage and surplus stores at once to Charlottesville, keeping your force light and movable, so that if the necessity to retire should arise you could do so without incumbrance and preserve a firm fact to the enemy. You might keep a small active force at your present position as long as you deem prudent, in order to make the movement of your army from the enemy in your front.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. E. LEE,
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. 18, Pages 853-854, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
