Summary:
Union General Winfield Scott Hancock writes Chief of Staff Halleck to discuss a March, 1862, scouting report. The report details Confederate movements in the Staunton area.

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Maj.-Gen. HALLECK,
Chief of Staff:

WINCHESTER, VA.,

March 2, 1865

Two of Sheridan's scouts sent out several days ago have just returned. They went within six miles of Staunton, and report as follows:

Not more than 1,500 infantry of Breckinridge's old command camped at Rushville, between Waynesborough and Staunton. Rosser has been ordered to Richmond. His brigade had been called together, and was ordered to concentrate at Swoope's Depot. It was reported that they were going to Richmond. The Thirteenth and Eighteenth Virginia Cavalry, of Jackson's brigade, and four Lynchburg batteries--Johnson's, Kirkpatrick's, Jackson's, and Moorman's--had left; reported gone to North Carolina.

Gen. Davidson is in command of the cavalry in the Valley. McCausland was at Gordonsville. The scouts are sure that Fitz Lee's division is at Richmond. They heard nothing of Gen. Sheridan, as they were obliged to leave the Valley and go over into Luray to avoid capture, and the streams were so high that there was no communication between the Shenandoah and Luray Valleys.

WINF'D S. HANCOCK,
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 46, Serial No. 96, Pages 796, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.