Summary:
Union Colonel George Sharpe writes General Andrew Humphreys to give him
information obtained from a Confederate deserter in July, 1864. Sharpe reports
that Confederate General Richard Ewell was preparing to go to Maryland, and that
supply trains at Staunton had been filled with hard bread for the
expedition.
Gen. HUMPHREYS:
July 4, 1864.
A deserter from the Sixty-first Virginia Regiment, Mahone's old brigade, of Mahone's division, came into the lines of Gen. Mott's brigade, of Gen. Birney's division, about 5 o'clock this a. m. He states that he had just come out on his post as a sharpshooter and left his brigade in the breast-works; that his division came into position at this point night before last, having returned from an expedition down the railroad. Wilcox's division had been occupying the place vacated by Mahone's division, and they moved down to the right again. It was rumored in camp last night that Ewell was going into Maryland; that he had with him his own corps and the detached forces that have been lately operating in the Valley; that he had loaded his trains with hard bread an had left his baggage at Staunton. Rumors have been afloat for a day or two past that he had taken Arlington Heights and was about to capture the city of Washington. Rations were cut down on the last issue a quarter of a pound on meal, said to be only temporary. Sugar and coffee are issued irregularly. The division stationed on the right of the rebel lines (which is now Wilcox's division) sends a force of at least a brigade to a point on the Weldon railroad known as the Six-Mile House. This force is regularly sent our and relieved. Informant states that Mahone's division is completely tired out and relieved. Informant states that Mahone's division is completely tired out in marching backward and forward down the railroad, and that Wilcox's division is now performing the same duty.
Very respectfully,
GEORGE H. SHARPE,
Col., &c.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 40, Serial No. 81, Pages 620, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
