Summary:
Confederate General John Imboden writes Robert E. Lee in March, 1864, to discuss
the possibility of a Union raid on the Shenandoah Valley. Imboden fears that
Staunton may be one of the targets.
Gen. R. E. LEE,
Cmdg. Army of the Northern Virginia:
March 10, 1864.
GEN.:
I inclose copy of a dispatch to Gen. Rosser from one of his scouts, received last night, which coincide with reports sent to me by my own men. I have little or no doubt that we shall have a big raid here some time this month. I have sent 350 men to work on the line of fortifications in the mountain passes. I can't put up all those works in time to resist the next raid and at the same time keep an adequate force below Staunton. Would it not be well to notify Gen. Breckinridge of these significant preparations of the enemy, and call upon him to put up the works south of Millborough and require Col. Jackson to do the work at Millborough? If Averell comes with 5,000 to 6,000 men and threatens two or three places at once, say Staunton, Lexington, and the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, we shall be sorely put to meet him unless these works are finished and other troops sent to the district.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. D. IMBODEN,
Brig.-Gen., Cmdg.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 33, Serial No. 60, Pages 1215, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
