Summary:
Union Adjutant Fitz-John Porter writes from the Department of Pennsylvania,
stationed at Chambersburg, to Colonel Lew Wallace, commanding troops in the
field, in June, 1861. Porter instructs Wallace to halt his men at Cumberland and
cross the Potomac, gather information on the Confederate forces, encourage
unionists, and locate stores and forage.
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA,
Col. LEWIS WALLACE,
Eleventh Indiana Regiment,
Cumberland, Md.:
Chambersburg, Pa.,
June 6, 1861.
SIR:
I am instructed by Maj.-Gen. Patterson to direct you to halt your forces at Cumberland, securing the bridges over the Potomac and Green Spring Run, respectively, five and fifteen miles upon this side, and there to await further orders from him. He also instructs me to add in his name, as follows: Gather as much reliable information as possible of the disposition of the people of Maryland and Virginia in that vicinity, and extend your inquiries by secret agents south into Virginia and east along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Encourage the Unionists in disaffected regions to band together for self-defense, and to take heart from the support the Government has already given and the protection now given to them. By a kind, yet firm, course on your part, and by the good deportment of your troops, secure the confidence and good-will of the community in which you may be located. Let the inhabitants feel you are in their midst as friends and protectors. Should you gain information of the gathering, for offensive movements, of armed bodies of men not too powerful to be overcome by a force you can safely detach, capture or rout them by surprise, if possible, and seize and held as prisoners of war all parties injuring the lines of communication, or arrayed or plotting against the peace of the United States; ascertain the resources of the country, with a view of subsisting your command (perhaps to be largely increased), and drawing as little as possible provisions and stores from this or other distant regions.
The commanding general desires you to report in full your operations and any information gained on matters of importance, and from time to time, as occasion may offer, he would be pleased to hear from you on such topics as you may deem of interest.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
F. J. PORTER,
Assistant Adjutant-Gen.
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 668, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
