Summary:
In early June, 1864, Union forces occupied Staunton, VA. In this dispatch, Union cipher clerk R. R. McCaine writes from Staunton to Washington telegraph manager Thomas Eckert. McCaine reports on operations in Staunton. He mentions the expected arrival of an ordnance train, the destruction of the railroad, and the burning of all railroad buildings in the town.

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Maj. THOMAS T. ECKERT,
Asst. Manager U. S. Military Telegraph, Washington, D. C.:

STAUNTON, VA.,

June 9, 1864--6 a. m.
(Received 11 a. m. 12th.)

A train is expected with ordnance soon. Could you not give the general something official from Grant and Sherman in cipher? He requests that you send him news whenever it is practicable. Stahel was slightly wounded, and Sullivan had three horses shot under him at the battle of Piedmont. Our infantry is now engaged in burning ties and bending rails east and west. All Government and railroad buildings have been burned at Staunton. We leave to-morrow.

R. R. MCCAINE,
Cipher Clerk.

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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 37, Serial No. 70, Pages 613, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.