Summary:
Union General Darius Couch writes from Chambersburg to General William F. Smith in July, 1863, regarding the military situation in Pennsylvania.

---

Brig. Gen. William F. Smith,
Comdg. at Hagerstown:

Chambersburg,

July 23, 1863.

Gen.:

I wish you to hold on for the present. I supposed that Gen. Schenck had settled the matter with his troops. I will immediately telegraph him about it. As regards the mutinous state of the men of Emlen Franklin's command, if nothing can be done with them or their colonels, you will have to fall back toward Greencastle. Please write me particularly about it; where the difficulty lies, &c. Above all things, we want to avoid a mutiny; and if, upon the receipt of this, from your knowledge, as above stated, it is eminently expedient to fall back, do so. In that case I would like you to remain for awhile at Hagerstown, until Kelley is over, and gotten the country south of the Potomac in his possession.

Respectfully,

D. N. COUCH,
Maj.-Gen.

---

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