Summary:
Union General Darius Couch writes to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton on July 30, 1864, to report that Union General William Averell's troops recaptured Chambersburg. He reports that much of the town was burned, and estimates the number of houseless civilians.

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SECRETARY OF WAR:

HARRISBURG, PA.,

July 30, 1864.

Just heard from Averell. He has driven Johnson and McCausland out of Chambersburg, and is following them west toward Loudon. The best part of Chambersburg is in ashes. Three thousand people thought to be houseless. Prisoner's state that a raid is being made by Breckinridge toward Wheeling or above, to return by way of Kanawha Valley. This seems to confirm a previous opinion of Averell's of a raid in that direction. Prisoners say that Longstreet's corps is to threaten Washington, Early to hold the Valley, while Breckinridge makes his raid. I will notify Cumberland and Pittsburg. I presume Gen. Averell wishes a copy of this sent to Gen. Hunter.

D. N. COUCH,
Maj.-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 525, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.