Summary:
During July, 1861, Union forces under George B. McClellan defeated Confederates in what is now West Virginia, and threatened to advance toward the Shenandoah Valley. Staunton served as an important Confederate base of supply during the campaign. In this letter to Confederate Assistant Adjutant George Deas, General Henry R. Jackson mentions artillery sent west from Staunton to meet the Federal advance.

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Col. GEORGE DEAS, Assistant Adjutant-Gen.:

CAMP AT MONTEREY, VA.,

July 22, 1861.

SIR:

Unless a considerable force be at once put upon the road from Millborough, through Huntersville, towards Huttonsville, the enemy will overrun Pocahontas and get possession of the Central Railroad. There is good reason for believing that he is now upon Middle Mountain, twenty-five miles only beyond Huntersville, and we have but one regiment (Col. Lee's) on the road to meet him. I shall do what I possibly can to support Col. Lee from this point; but Monterey is equidistant with Millborough from Huntersville. It is unfortunate that one of the regiments, with the artillery, now in motion from Staunton, had not been sent, in accordance with my suggestion, up to Millborough. I have dispatched Capt. Cole, C. S. Army, to Huntersville, for the purpose of collecting and reporting reliable information, and of providing for transporting and provisioning the forces which may be sent in that direction, although the prospect of obtaining provisions or transportation there is very limited.

H. R. JACKSON,
Brig.-Gen., Commanding.

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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 988, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.