Summary:
Robert E. Lee writes General Samuel Jones in June, 1863, just as his invasion of
Pennsylvania got underway. Lee mentions the positions of Confederate troops,
noting that General Richard Ewell's advance cavalry occupied Chambersburg. He
also urges Jones to strike at West Virginia.
Gen. Samuel Jones,
Comdg., &c., Dublin, Va.:
Berryville,
June 20, 1863.
Gen.:
Gen. Milroy has been driven out of Winchester and Martinsburg with a loss of about 4,000 prisoners, thirty pieces of cannon, a large wagon train, &c., and has crossed the Potomac, occupying with the rest of his troops Maryland Heights, retaining a mere picket in Harper's Ferry.
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad has been cut by our cavalry east of the Point of Rocks, and Gen. Imboden has destroyed the important bridges over the Little Cacapon, Patterson's Creek, North and South Branches of the Potomac, &c., and the tanks, depots, engines, &c., from Cacapon to Cumberland, included.
Gen. Hooker has abandoned the line of the Rappahannock, and fallen back toward the Potomac.
Gen. Ewell's corps is in Maryland, and his advanced cavalry occupies Chambersburg.
I think the present offers to you a favorable time to threaten Western Virginia, and, if circumstances favor, you might convert the threat into a real attack. A more favorable opportunity will probably not occur during the war, and, if you can accomplish nothing else, you may at least prevent the troops in that region from being sent to re-enforce other points.
I would recommend, therefore, that you unite all your available forces, and strike at some vulnerable point.
Wishing you great success, I am, general, with great respect, your obedient servant,
R. E. LEE,
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 906, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
