Summary:
In the mid-summer of 1864, Confederate forces under Jubal Early raided in force north of the Potomac into Maryland and southern Pennsylvania. In this dispatch, Union cavalry general William Averell reports to General George Crook on their approach, and mentions the possibility of Chambersburg being left exposed.

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Gen. GEORGE CROOK,
Cmdg. Army of Kanawha:

Hagerstown, Md.,

July 27, 1864.

GEN.:

Your dispatch of the 26th instant received. I have information that there is a brigade of the enemy at Falling Waters, and my scouts just in from the other side of the river report that two citizens of Martinsburg say the infantry of the enemy are marching toward Cherry Run. It was reported that they were crossing at that place, but the report needs confirmation as yet. Can you not leave a regiment of Gen. Duffie's division to picket the lower part of this line? I would like the portion of Cole's cavalry and that portion of the First New York (Lincoln) now with the First Division. If the enemy move up on my right, as they seem likely to do, Chambersburg will be entirely exposed, unless I can have some cavalry to operate in that direction.

I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

WM. W. AVERELL,
Brig.-Gen.

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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. 71, Pages 468-469, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.