Summary:
Union General Franz Sigel reports to Generals Heintzelman and Burnside regarding
the November, 1862, situation in the Valley. He discusses interviewing a sick
man who had passed through Staunton and saw no Confederate troops between that
place and Winchester.
Maj.-Gen. HEINTZELMAN and Maj.-Gen. BURNSIDE:
FAIRFAX COURT-HOUSE, VA.,
November 24, 1862.
Brig.-Gen. Sickles informs me that he will move his division to-morrow to Potomac Creek, and that he will take with him all the detachments on the railroad between Burke's Station and Bull Run Bridge, and at Bristoe and Occoquan. Be so kind as to inform me whether some other troops will be sent in place of these detachments, amounting to three regiments and two batteries. Our scouts were at Leesburg and Aldie to-day. They found at Leesburg 16 rebel cavalry who came from Mount Gilead. They also found a cavalry picket of the enemy at Aldie. Nothing of the rebels could be seen by our scouts at Hopewell and Thoroughfare Gap. At Brentsville they learned that 50 rebel cavalry had passed during the day. It is reported from other sources that Stuart's cavalry, with some artillery, is still near Warrenton, but that there were no troops in Warrenton yesterday. I examined to-day a man who came from Mobile, by Montgomery, Knoxville, Staunton, and was lying sick at Winchester for a fortnight. He saw no large bodies of troops between Staunton and Winchester, nor were there any troops between Staunton and Winchester, nor were there any troops at Winchester and Berryville. He says there are no troops at Bunker Hill, but large pickets near Martinsburg. He crossed at Snicker's Ferry yesterday. His reports are confirmed somewhat by those of a teamster, who was met by my scout near Leesburg to-day. The teamster says that he was pressed by the rebels to help Gen. Early's troops, moving from Snicker's Gap to Paris, on Thursday and Friday last. Early's division was stationed between Berryville and Snickersville, as I previously reported. From all this, it seems that Mackall's [McLaws'] and Early's divisions have united at Ashby's, and that, therefore, Jackson was expected at Salem on last Friday and Saturday.
F. SIGEL.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 21, Serial No. 31, Pages 795-796, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
