Summary:
Major Michael G. Harman, commanding at Staunton, forwards to Jefferson Davis and
George Deas a report of Confederate General Henry Jackson recounting Robert S.
Garnett's July, 1861, death and defeat in battle with George B. McClellan's
Union troops in what is now West Virginia. Harman asks for permission to begin a
pony express line from Staunton to Monterey and Winchester.
President DAVIS and Col. GEORGE DEAS:
STAUNTON, VA.,
July 16, 1861.
Below is a dispatch from Gen. Jackson. Send on re-enforcements. I will prepare transportation:
CAMP AT MONTEREY, VA., July 15, 1861.
Col. GEORGE DEAS, Assistant Adjutant-Gen.:
Reliable information received that Gen. Garnett, on his retreat from Laurel Hill, through the counties of Tucker and Hardy, towards this point, was pursued and attacked in the rear several times by the enemy and defeated; that on Saturday he himself was killed, and it would seem that command had been routed and dispersed. It is reported that Col. Heck surrendered. The enemy may advance upon this line towards Staunton, or upon the line by Huntersville and the Warm Springs, to the Central Railroad. Speedy re-enforcements, especially of engineers and artillery, are needed, to enable us to hold our position should he advance. The effective force under my command amounts to from twenty-five hundred to three thousand men, with three pieces of artillery--6-pounders. More circumstantial accounts will be transmitted at the earliest moment.
HENRY R. JACKSON, Brig.-Gen.
Will inform you as further details reach me. Allow me to establish a pony express from this place to Monterey and Winchester.
M. G. HARMAN,
Maj., Commanding.
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 247, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
