Summary:
Union Assistant Adjutant Edward Townsend replies to George B. McClellan, commanding Union troops in West Virginia during July, 1861. He reports that General Winfield Scott urges McClellan to reconsider plans for an attack on Staunton.

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Gen. McCLELLAN, U. S. Army, Buckhannon:

JULY 9, 1861.

Your telegrams of 7th received. The General concedes that you are the best judge of your means and the importance of the objects to be gained; but when you speak of extending your operations to Staunton, and even to Wytheville, he fears your line will be too long without intermediate supports. He wishes you to weigh well these points before deciding.

E. D. TOWNSEND.

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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 201-202, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.