Summary:
Union General Benjamin F. Kelley writes General Franz Sigel to notify him of
General William Averell's May, 1864, victory over Confederates at Goshen, on the
General Railroad, twenty-one miles from Staunton.
Maj.-Gen. SIGEL, Cedar Creek:
CUMBERLAND,
(Via Martinsburg.)
May 20, 1864
The Fourth Virginia Infantry, or a portion of it (four companies being detached in Lewis and Gilmer Counties), passed here last night en route for Martinsburg. The lieutenant-colonel commanding represents that in consequence of their hard service in the southwest, and being so reduced in numbers, only numbering now about 300, the War Department ordered him back into West Virginia to assist in guarding railroad. May I, therefore, ask you, if you can do so consistently, to use this remnant of a regiment on your line at Winchester, or between there and Martinsburg. They can then render the double service in protecting the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and your line of communication also. Col. Harris, at Beverly, reports that his scouts started on the 14th to communicate with Gen. Crook; he sent another on the 17th. Refugees, arrived at Beverly on the 17th from Rockbridge County, report that Averell defeated Echols and Jackson on the 11th at Goshen, on the General railroad, twenty-one miles southwest of Staunton. I fear this is not reliable, as Echols confronted you at New Market on the 15th.
B. F. KELLEY,
Brig.-Gen.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 37, Serial No. 70, Pages 502, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
