Summary:
Union General Robert Patterson writes from Chambersburg to Assistant Adjutant E.
D. Townsend in June, 1861. Patterson discusses his plans for an advance into
Maryland, mentions regiments he is expecting to receive, and details troop
strengths in the Chambersburg area.
Lieut. Col. E. D. TOWNSEND,
Asst. Adjt. Gen., U. S.
Army, Washington City:
CHAMBERSBURG, Pa.,
June 7, 1861.
SIR:
The inclosed telegrams will inform the Gen.-in-Chief how the Elmira regiment succeeded in passing out of this department and what companies of the Second Infantry have been to Pittsburgh.
From private information I have reason to believe Company C, Second Infantry, will soon be in from Fort Ripley. Am I authorized to take it and others of the regiment passing East?
I desire in a few days to occupy the road beyond Hagerstown, and to establish my headquarters in that town, but do not, in face of the order of the Gen.-in-Chief not to make a forward movement, like to advance beyond Greencastle, to which point Col. Thomas' brigade moved to-day. I can in a few days hence throw with wagons eight thousand men beyond that point, and by rail at the same time two thousand more.
While the river is high from recent rains, I wish to establish my depots and to intrench my left flank on the Boonsborough road, placing there the force with which I can threaten the Maryland Heights, and, should a favorable occasion offer, storm them. This force will be that which I will not be able to provide with sufficient transportation at present. The approaches to Harper's Ferry are so well guarded, and the sympathizers with the rebels in the immediate vicinity so numerous, that no spy can approach their works. The little information I can gain assures me that they are fortifying west of Harper's Ferry as well as at the Maryland Heights, and design on this field to make a desperate struggle for supremacy.
Independent of the regular force with Col. Thomas, I have now in this vicinity seventeen regiments, all the force which is to join me, except the New York and Ohio regiments, of which I know nothing.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. PATTERSON,
Maj.-Gen., 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 668-669, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
