Summary:
After Thomas J. Jackson's May 8, 1862, victory over Union forces under John C. Fremont, Stonewall Jackson prepared to turn and attack Nathaniel P. Banks Federals. In this dispatch, Jackson orders General Richard Ewell to prepare his men to march. Jackson orders him to send any excess cooking and entrenching tools to the supply base of Staunton, VA.

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Maj.-Gen. EWELL:

LEBANON WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS,

May 17, 1862

GEN.:

Your dispatch of yesterday and that of Col. Munford of the previous day have been received. I desire you to encamp beyond New Market on next Wednesday night. If any of the troops at Gordonsville cannot join you for want of transportation, please direct them to send their cooking utensils and entrenching tools by railroad to Staunton, and, with four days' cooked rations in their haversacks, to march at dawn on next Monday morning via Fisher's Gap for New Market. Let us, relying upon God for success, prepare for attacking Banks. I can only give you these general instructions. If your cavalry, or any part of your force, can, consistently with these instructions, damage the Manassas Gap Railroad or otherwise operate against Banks, I hope that it will be done. You may expect to hear from me daily until we meet. Give me all the information you can respecting Banks' movements.

Very truly, yours,

T. J. JACKSON,
Maj.-Gen.

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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 895, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.