Summary:
Union General Dan Butterfield forwards an April, 1863, report of a Union
informant to General Samuel Heintzelman. The informant came to Union lines after
having been in Staunton. He reports on the strength and locations of various
Confederate forces.
Maj.-Gen. HEINTZELMAN,
Cmdg. Defenses of Washington:
APRIL 26, 1863.
The following dispatch has just been received:
WARRENTON JUNCTION, April 26, 1863.
Gen. WILLIAMS:
A man by the name of George W. Lake, a resident of Maine, and townsman of Col. Sawtelle, quartermaster, and a very intelligent and apparently a very reliable gentleman, has just arrived within our lines from Staunton, via Harrisonburg, New Market, and Thornton's Gap. He reports that on Tuesday, the 21st instant, Jones was at Harrisonburg, and Imboden not far off. Their whole force about 6,000, mostly cavalry. They had just been issued ten days' rations, and it was understood that they were intending to turn Milroy, and destroy possibly the railroad bridge on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad at the mouth of South Branch of the Potomac and Cacapon Rivers, which has heretofore been done by Imboden. The people of the country are expecting an advance of Hooker's army on Gordonsville, via Culpeper, and it was rumored that pontoon bridges had been thrown across the river for that purpose. He estimates the Confederate army at 600,000 strong, and, from what he has heard, should judge that we had a large force in front of us at Fredericksburg.
Hill had 50,000 in North Carolina when Mr. Lake left there, six weeks ago; from 50,000 to 60,000 at Charleston during the recent engagement. Two iron-clads at Wilmington, N. C., one at least completed by this time, built to run the blockade, which is run with great regularity. Danville Railroad not completed yet.
GEORGE STONEMAN,
Maj.-Gen., Cmdg. Cavalry Corps.
To which the following answer has been sent:
That we have much more reliable information than this man has furnished. We know
the strength of the enemy in front, and he is looking for us to advance in this
vicinity. Jones has an irregular force of not to exceed 3,000. His intentions we
know nothing of.
JOSEPH HOOKER.
The foregoing is sent for you information.
DANL. BUTTERFIELD,
Maj.-Gen., Chief of Staff.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 25, Serial No. 40, Pages 254, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
