Summary:
Union General Darius Couch writes U. S. Assistant Adjutant Edward D. Townsend in August, 1864, concerning the raising of the border militia during the Confederate cavalry raid into Maryland and southern Pennsylvania.

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Col. E. D. TOWNSEND,
Assistant Adjutant-Gen., Washington, D. C.:

Harrisburg, Pa.,

August 11, 1864.

COL.:

I respectfully state, in consequence of being absent at Chambersburg and McConnellsburg, I did not see the message of His Excellency Governor A. G. Curtin, of the 9th instant, to the Legislature of Pennsylvania, until this evening. There in is a copy of a letter addressed by me to the honorable Secretary of War, dated Harrisburg, July 22, 1864, which came into the Governor's possession and was published in this manner: He applied for a copy of my communication to the Secretary on the subject of organizing the border militia. I telegraphed to Maj. John S. Schultze, assistant adjutant-general, the following:

PITTSBURG, August 4, 1864--9 a. m.
Maj. SCHULTZE,
Assistant Adjutant-Gen., Harrisburg:

Give the Governor a copy of my letter or plan to organize the militia of the border counties with his indorsement.
D. N. COUCH,
Maj.-Gen.

A copy of the letter as above was sent to him by mistake, as accompanying the plan with his indorsement, when only the plan was intended to have been furnished. This is matter of regret to me, as my official letters and reports to the War Department are never given to any parties.

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

D. N. COUCH,
Maj.-Gen., Cmdg. Department.

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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 43, Serial No. 90, Pages 774, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.