Summary:
In December, 1863, Confederates in West Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley attempted to stop a Union raid led by William Averell. In this dispatch, Assistant Adjutant A. S. Pendleton sends orders form Staunton to Confederate Colonel William Jackson.

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Col. W. L. JACKSON,
Commanding:

STAUNTON,

December 18, 1863

COLONEL:

Major-General Early, commanding forces, directs that you move to the Lick Run Bridge, below Clifton Forge, and take possession of it, so as to prevent Averell from passing out from Salem by Buchanan and Dibrell Springs. General Fitzhugh Lee and Imboden have gone from here in pursuit of Averell, who is now at Salem, and infantry have gone from here to Millborough to go to Alum Springs. Take up the plank from the Lick Run Bridge, and keep it so that you can put it down if General Fitzhugh Lee comes to it in pursuit of Averell.

I am, colonel, your obedient servant,

A. S. PENDLETON,
Lieutenant-Colonel, and Assistant Adjutant General.

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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 29, Serial No. 48, Pages 963, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.