Summary:
Robert E. Lee writes Confederate Secretary of War George Randolph with news about
Jeb Stuart's October, 1862, raid into Pennsylvania. He encloses a newspaper
account of the capture of Chambersburg. The newspaper dispatches describe the
surrender of the town, mention the location of Chambersburg bank deposits, and
describe treatment of civilians by the Confederate forces.
Hon. GEORGE W. RANDOLPH,
Secretary of War, Richmond,
Va.:
October 13, 1862.
SIR:
Information received since my letter to you of the 11th instant confirms the belief I then expressed that the army of Gen. McClellan is still in the vicinity of Sharpsburg and Harper's Ferry. From a scout just returned from Maryland, I learn that Sumner's and Williams' (formerly Banks') corps are at Harper's Ferry, Geary on Loudoun Heights, Burnside at Sandy Hook, Hooker, Porter, Reynolds, and Franklin between the Antietam and Hagerstown. Cox has been made a major-general, and it is said has been ordered to Western Virginia, and the four brigades I formerly mentioned I believe are ordered to the same point. The cavalry expedition of the enemy, which in my former letter I reported was moving toward the Rappahannock, has returned without accomplishing much, and I presume that movement was the basis of the report that a large was moving toward Richmond. You will see by the accompanying orders to Gen. Stuart that an expedition has been sent into Pennsylvania. The slip from the Baltimore American of the 11th instant, which I inclose, comprises all the information I have received since it crossed the border.
I have the honor to be, 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 19, Serial No. 28, Pages 663-664, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
