Summary:
In this December, 1864, dispatch, Union General George Cadwalader writes from Chambersburg to Army Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas concerning the location of headquarters in Pennsylvania. Cadwalader declares Chambersburg an ideal headquarters location, and discusses the importance of the town from a military point of view.

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Brig. Gen. L. THOMAS,
Adjutant-Gen. of the Army, Washington, D. C.:

Chambersburg, Pa.,

December 2, 1864.

GEN.:

I duly received the telegram from the Hon. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War, of yesterday's date, saying that the headquarters of this department are to be at Philadelphia, and that I may go there. In reply to his inquiry I have to state that my only reason for ordering Brig.-Gen. Ferry from Bedford to this place was that this position is a more important one than Bedford. It is in communication with the signal stations on the Potomac River, from Sharpsburg to Hancock, and is more central in directing the small forces in this neighborhood, and I did not think that he was required at Bedford. I shall go to Philadelphia to-morrow.

I am, general, respectfully, your obedient servant,

GEO. CADWALADER,
Maj.-Gen., Cmdg.

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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. 91, Pages 729, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.