Summary:
Union General in Chief Henry Halleck lays out October, 1862, plans. He discusses
fortifying Harper's Ferry to serve as a base for advances on Staunton,
Lynchburg, and Richmond.
Washington,
October 19, 1862.
This project of extensively fortifying Harper's Ferry, and constructing a permanent bridge at that point, involves a very considerable expenditure of money, a larger garrison, and a long delay, perhaps extending into winter, before Harper's Ferry can be made a prepared base for, at best, an exterior line of operations upon our proper objective point-Staunton, Lynchburg, or Richmond. Either of these points may be more surely reached by an interior line of operations behind and east of the Blue Ridge, at the same time covering Washington, our proper base, and threatening the enemy's communications, compelling him thus to evacuate the vicinity of Herper's Ferry; in which event field defenses, with a moderate garrison, would suffice to hold that point against any probable attack to be made upon it; and the permanent railroad bridge, now being built, would suffice for all our wants, without the one proposed to be erected by Gen. McClellan about 1 1/2 miles above.
H. W. HALLECK,
Gen.-in-Chief.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 19, Serial No. 28, Pages 442-443, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
