Summary:
Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston writes Inspector General Samuel Cooper in
June, 1861, concerning the Confederate defenses in northwestern Virginia.
Johnston describes the composition of Confederate forces in the area, speculates
as to the plans of the Union force stationed at Chambersburg, and complains of
Union sentiment among north-west Virginians.
Gen. SAMUEL COOPER.
Adjutant and Inspector Gen.:
HDQRS.
Winchester, Va.,
June 20, 1861.
GEN.:
Col. Jackson, with a field battery and four regiments of Virginia Volunteers, is at Martinsburg; Lieut.-Col. Stuart, with six companies of Virginia cavalry, between that place and the Potomac; seven battalions are near this place; three battalions under Col. A. P. Hill are on the road toward Romney, and a battalion under Lieut. Col. G. H. Steuart, detached to Harper's Ferry. There are three field batteries with the battalions here. The enemy's movements cannot be ascertained accurately. Yesterday Lieut.-Col. Stuart reported him encamped around Williamsport. He was informed by a well-recommended clergyman that he had met 5,000 or 6,000 on the way from Williamsport to Chambersburg going, they said, to Washington. This morning Col. Stuart reports that a regiment of infantry has returned to our side of the river. All the information I could obtain from this vicinity in Maryland, and from friends in Baltimore, was to the effect that 18,000 men would advance from Chambersburg to co-operate with an army from Ohio. My belief in these reports prevented me from availing myself of an opportunity to strike a hard blow. Gen. Cadwalader's forces which crossed the Potomac probably scarcely exceeded 8,000. The population bordering the Potomac in Virginia is all hostile to us; they inform the enemy of every movement of ours, while we know nothing of his but what we see. I send two prisoners taken by one of Col. Stuart's men opposite Williamsport yesterday. They represented themselves to be a lieutenant-colonel and private acting as colonel's secretary. Your main re-enforcements, I doubt not, should go to Gen. Beauregard. A few mounted companies are much wanted here. We have not the number required for picket service. If this want can be supplied, I beg that it may be. I had the pleasure to receive 8,000 cartridges this morning, and your letter of the 18th.
Most respectfully,
J. E. JOHNSTON.
Brig.-Gen., C. S. Army.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 51, Serial No. 108, Pages 143, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
