Summary:
Union General Darius Couch, commanding at Chambersburg, writes Colonel James Forsyth in November, 1864, concerning the possibility of a raid by Confederate guerrillas into southern Pennsylvania. Couch states that the large number of Confederate spies captured have convinced him that such a raid is planned. He reports that he is raising home guards in Franklin County to help defend the richly-supplied farms between Hagerstown and Shippensburg.

---

Lieut. Col. JAMES W. FORSYTH,
Chief of Staff, Mid. Mil. Division, Harper's Ferry, W. Va.:

Chambersburg, Pa.,

November 16, 1864.

COL.:

I have the honor to state that, from the information in my possession, together with the number of spies recently arrested, and the fact that there are many persons who are undoubtedly spies in this valley and the adjacent country, but cannot be taken, I am of the opinion that a raid is intended into this valley by guerrillas. I have some 350 men-infantry, mounted men, and artillery-scattered as pickets and for protection. Six companies of home guards are being organized in this county, and perhaps the number will be increased to ten or twenty. If the people carry this out as they should, I doubt if a guerrilla party will attempt to enter the State, but at this time there is no great protection for the well-filled barns between Hagerstown and Shippensburg.

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

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

---

Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 43, Serial No. 91, Pages 636, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.