Summary:
Union General in Chief Henry Halleck writes general Darius Couch, commanding the Department of the Susquehanna at Chambersburg, in July, 1863. Halleck instructs Couch that he must follow Meade's orders, regardless of department lines, until Confederate forces have been driven from the Potomac.

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Maj.-Gen. Couch,
Chambersburg, Pa.:

War Department, Washington,

July 21, 1863

All troops in the field of your department, and that of Gen. Schenck, were placed under the orders of Gen. Meade without regard to department lines. Gen. Meade's orders to you in regard to Harper's Ferry must be obeyed. It will be time enough to regulate department lines when the enemy is driven away from the Potomac.

H. W. HALLECK, Gen.-in-Chief.

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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 737, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.