Summary:
Union General George B. McClellan, commanding forces in West Virginia, reports to Assistant Adjutant Edward Townsend on July, 1861, plans to attack and drive the Confederates toward Staunton.

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Lieut. Col. E. D. TOWNSEND:

BUCKHANNON,

July 6, 1861.

Have directed movement in force up the Great Kanawha, and other movements of troops covering nearly the whole of Western Virginia. My advance guard goes at 4 in the morning to occupy the Middle Fork Bridge. By the 8th or 9th at latest I expect to occupy Beverly, fighting a battle in the mean while. I propose to drive the enemy over the mountains towards Staunton, and expect you further orders by telegraph whether to move on Staunton on the south or towards Wytheville.

GEO. B. McCLELLAN,
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 2, Serial No. 2, Pages 199, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.