Summary:
Union General Randolph Marcy writes General George Stoneman in October, 1862, to
report that Confederate forces left Chambersburg, and to discuss further
movements and attempts at pursuit.
Gen. G. STONEMAN, Poolesville, Md.:
HDQRS. ARMY OF THE POTOMAC,
October 12, 1862
By direction of the commanding general I telegraphed to you at 1 p. m. yesterday, informing you that a force of about 2,000 rebel cavalry had left Chambersburg at 9 o'clock yesterday morning, in the direction of Gettysburg, and that as they might be making for some ford opposite Leesburg, you would keep your cavalry scouts well out on the approaches from the direction of Frederick, so that you might receive notice in time to mass your troops at any point the rebels might attempt to cross. It does not appear either from your own dispatches, or from those of Gen. Pleasonton, that, with the exception of a few companies of infantry, he received any support from you. His men had marched seventy-eight miles during the previous twenty-four hours, and he states that in consequence of having so little assistance after holding them in check for two hours, they were allowed to escape across the river. Troops were placed at other points to prevent the rebels getting back into Virginia, and the commanding general relied upon you to intercept them if they came in your immediate vicinity. He now requires from you a written explanation of the reasons why you did not carry out the instructions communicated to you in my dispatch of 1 p. m. yesterday.
R. B. MARCY,
Chief of Staff.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 51, Serial No. 107, Pages 881-882, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
