Summary:
Union General Darius Couch estimates the size of the Confederate force occupying Chambersburg in this June, 1863, dispatch to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.

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Hon. E. M. Stanton,
Secretary of War:

Harrisburg,

June 16, 1863

Scouts on Northern Central Railroad, just in from Westminster to Glen Rock, report as follows:

Rebels in possession of New Market. At 12 m. they crossed the Potomac at Sharps--and are in possession of Hagerstown, Greencastle, Chambersburg, Waynesborough, and other small towns. The different forces are concentrating, to make for Harrisburg and cut all communications off from the North. Total force estimated at 20,000 to 25,000 men.

I send you this information as received. Force in Chambersburg about 2,000.

D. N. COUCH,
Maj.-Gen., Comdg.

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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 27, Serial No. 45, Pages 163, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.