Summary:
In mid-July, 1861, Union troops under George B. McClellan drove Confederates
under Robert Garnett from what is now West Virginia. In the aftermath,
Confederates in the Shenandoah Valley scrambled to stop the Federal advance. In
this letter, Robert E. Lee orders William W. Loring to take control of forces in
the area. Lee informs Loring that troops and supplies from Staunton will come to
his aid.
HEADQUARTERS,
Brig. Gen. W. W. LORING,
Provisional Army,
Confederate States:
Richmond, Va.,
July 20, 1861.
GENERAL:
You are assigned to the command of the Northwestern Army, and it is important that you join it without delay. Brig. Gen. H. R. Jackson, now in command of the forces, was at Monterey when last heard from, and he will give you all the information relative to previous operations, the state of the troops, country, &c., You will perceive the necessity of preventing the advance of the enemy, and the importance of restraining him the other side of the Alleghany Ridge. For this purpose you will occupy such passes as in your judgment will effect the object, and your attention is particularly called to the defense of the road leading from Huttonsville (where the enemy is said to be now stationed), through Mailing's Bottom to Huntersville, and the Warm Springs to Millborough, on the Virginia Central Railroad. In addition to the force you will find at Monterey and on the march from Staunton, Brig.-Gen. Floyd has been directed to move with his brigade upon Covington. Brig.-Gen. Wise, operating in the valley of the Kanawha, has been directed to move up towards the same point, and Col. Angus W. McDonald, on the South Branch of the Potomac, to Staunton. A union of all the forces in the West can thus be effected for a decisive blow, and, when in your judgment proper, it will be made. Such supplies as you cannot procure in your vicinity will be forwarded from Staunton and this place.
Very respectfully,
R.E. LEE,
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 986, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
