Summary:
Confederate Assistant Adjutant General H. L. Clay forwards a May, 1864, telegram to Robert E. Lee. The telegram ordered Confederate General John C. Breckinridge, commanding at Staunton, to move his troops to Lynchburg.

---

Gen. R. E. LEE,
Cmdg. Army of Northern Virginia:

RICHMOND, VA.,

May 13, 1864.

GEN.:

I am directed by the Adjutant and Inspector Gen. to furnish you with the following copy of a telegram sent to Maj.-Gen. Breckinridge, Staunton, Va.:

If you have no instructions from Gen. Lee to conflict, send immediately an efficient brigade of infantry to Lynchburg to protect that place, and unite with McCausland in defense of Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. The movement should be prompt and rapid.
S. COOPER,
Adjutant and Inspector Gen.

The imminent danger in which the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad and Lynchburg are placed by the late expedition of the enemy in Western Virginia necessitated the prompt movement of a force to Lynchburg, and the issue of this order direct to Gen. Breckinridge.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

H. L. CLAY,
Assistant Adjutant-Gen.

---

Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 36, Serial No. 68, Pages 998, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.