Summary:
Union General John Dix makes a March, 1863, report to General in Chief Henry
Halleck. He informs the general of Confederate troop strengths gathered by a spy
in several locations, including Staunton.
Maj. Gen. H. W. HALLECK, Gen.-in-Chief:
FORT MONROE, VA.,
March 18, 1863.
My man arrived from Richmond late last evening. He was at Staunton on the 7th. Gen. Jones was in command with 35,000 men. Near Culpeper Court-House there were 1,800. He was at Fredericksburg on the 9th. The enemy had one hundred and seven regiments there, making, as he thinks, about 85,000. The regiments have been strengthened lately by conscripts. At Fort Darling there are about 7,000; between Fredericksburg and Richmond about 15,000; below Fredericksburg and on the Blackwater, 28,000. At Richmond there are not over 3,000. Wise, on the left bank of the James River, on the Chickahominy, at White House, and Diascund Bridge, has about 9,000. The enemy with 4,000 men, and is fortifying strongly. This is a part of the 28,000 between Fredericksburg and the Blackwater. All my information confirms the belief that every man capable of bearing arms that could be reached in the insurgent States has been taken up by the conscription act.
JOHN A. DIX,
Maj.-Gen., Comdg.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 18, Serial No. 26, Pages 563, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
