Summary:
Staunton, VA, served as a rendezvous point for Confederate troops during July,
1861, campaigning in western Virginia. In this letter, Michael G. Harman,
quartermaster at Staunton, informs General Lee of the locations of various
regiments.
Maj. Gen. R. E. LEE:
STAUNTON, VA.,
July 23, 1861.
Your dispatch received. The Twelfth Georgia Regiment Col. Johnson, is on top the Alleghany Mountains near Yager's; the First (should read Sixth. Correction from General Index.) North Carolina Regiment has been ordered to Elk Mountain; Forty-fourth North Carolina Regiment (should read North Carolina Regiment), Col. Lee. Virginia Regiment, Col. Scott, is at Monterey; Twenty-third Virginia Regiment, Col. Taliaferro, is at McDowells, for recruits; First Georgia Regiment, Col. Ramsey, is at McDowells', to recruit; Maj. Jones, with five iron pieces of artillery, is with the Twelfth Georgia Regiment; Capt. Shumaker's battery, with two companies of the Twentieth Regiment, Capts. Jones and Bruce, is at Monterey; six remnants of companies of the Twentieth Regiment have been ordered to general headquarters, and are on the march of Staunton. This was the position of the army yesterday at 4 p.m., when Maj. Tyler left Monterey. I would suggest that our forces are now so much scattered that the three Tennessee regiments be sent to Monterey. If you desire to re-enforce Elk Mountain, it could be done from Monterey, or be used to oppose the advance from Cheat Mountain, if this should be attempted.
M. G. HARMAN,
Maj., 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 993-994, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
