Summary:
Confederate General Robert S. Garnett reports to Colonel F. H. Smith on May, 1861, troop strengths. Garnett estimates the number of volunteers stationed in several cities, including Staunton.

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HEADQUARTERS VIRGINIA FORCES,

Col. F.H. SMITH, Richmond, Va.:

Richmond, Va.,

May 30, 1861.

COLONEL:

I submit below the information you ask for the council. It is, of course, not strictly correct, though I think it is not far out of the way. It is impossible to get returns from these volunteers:

Norfolk, no returns, 7,000 conjectured; Jamestown Island, no returns, fifteen companies, 1,050; Williamsburg and Yorktown, no returns, 3,500; Gloucester Point, no returns, 600; West Point, 250; Richmond, including Ashland and the Confederate States troops, 5,500; Fredericksburg, including counties on the lower Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers, number not known, 2,700; Manassas Gap, no returns, 6,000; Leesburg, no returns, 500; Harper's Ferry, excluding Maryland troops, not known, and excluding Point of Rocks, 5,500; Grafton, no returns, 1,000 conjectured; Kanawha Valley, no returns, 1,100; Abingdon, no returns, 500 conjectured; Lynchburg, no returns, 1,000 conjectured; besides a few companies supposed to be at Staunton, Charlottesville, &c. Total, 36,200.

I am, sir, very respectfully, &c.,

R.S. GARNETT,
Adjutant-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 895, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.