Summary:
Confederate Colonel A. C. Dunn reports to Colonel W. L. Jackson on a July, 1863,
scouting expedition in western Virginia. Dunn reports requesting rations from
Staunton for his operations.
Col. W. L. Jackson.
Camp Tilghman,
Hightown,
July 9, 1863.
Col.:
Your communication of the 4th instant was handed me by Maj. J. R. Claiborne on yesterday. I am now in position at Hightown, carrying out my orders from you, I having a company at Monterey, which company are picketing and scouting as far as Franklin, in Pendleton County. I am diligently scouting, and I shall fight the enemy if ever they should advance. I have sent to Staunton for twenty days' rations for command.
I am sorry our plans were not successful in capturing the enemy. I was in my position two hours before the time given by you, and did everything in my power to carry out your orders, and, in fact, did more than you ordered me to do.
Mr. Caplinger, one of my guides, left near Beverly on Tuesday. He says the enemy were re-enforced some 2,500 men, and on Friday morning, shortly after I fell back, they advanced and surrounded the position I held, thinking I was still there. They could not find out how I got in their rear, or how I went out. He says the re-enforcement had left for Grafton, leaving Col. Harris' forces still in Beverly.
I am, colonel, your obedient servant,
A. C. DUNN,
Lieut.-Col., Comdg.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 27, Serial No. 44, Pages 812-813, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
