Summary:
Confederate Adjutant General Samuel Cooper writes Robert E. Lee at Staunton, VA, in September, 1861, to discuss his duties in western Virginia, and his possible return to Richmond to resume acting as Jefferson Davis's military advisor.

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Gen. R. E. LEE,
Staunton, Va.:

RICHMOND,

September 4, 1861.

GEN.:

Your several communications were duly submitted to the President, who has read them with much satisfaction and fully approves of all you have done. He has not ceased to feel an anxious desire for your return to this city to resume your former duties, even while satisfied of the importance of your presence in Western Virginia so long as might be necessary to carry out the ends set forth in your communications. Whenever, in your judgment, circumstances will justify it, your will consider yourself authorized to return.

I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant,

S. COOPER,
Adjutant and Inspector-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 51, Serial No. 108, Pages 269, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.