Summary:
West Virginia Governor Francis Pierpont writes Secretary of War Stanton in May, 1863, to request arms for the militia. He suggests that taking Staunton, VA, would interrupt the flow into the Confederacy of "booty" seized in West Virginia.

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Hon. SECRETARY OF WAR:

WHEELING, VA.,

May 4, 1863.

Please send me immediately 2,000 arms for militia, short French rifle preferred, for the woods. There has been a great loss of property in this county in horses and cattle. The rebels, under Col.'s Jackson and Imboden, are at Weston. Jones has gone to Beverly to send forward his booty. If Staunton could be taken, it would interrupt their booty.

F. H. PEIRPOINT,
Governor.

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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 25, Serial No. 40, Pages 415, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.