Summary:
Confederate Captain Joseph Jones writes from Staunton to Adjutant General Samuel
Cooper on the state of men under his command. The companies, ordered to Staunton
in September, 1861, suffer from disease and fatigue. Jones asks that they be
granted a furlough.
Gen. COOPER:
STAUNTON, VA.,
September 25, 1861.
SIR:
By an order of Gen. Jackson I have brought the two companies (I and K) of the Twentieth Regt. Virginia Volunteers to this place, to await further orders. From the fact that the two companies have been ordered from active service to this place, I ask leave to submit to you, sir, a report of their condition. They have been engaged in active duties since the 3d of June last.
After our disastrous retreat from Rich Mountain all the companies of the Twentieth Regt. asked to return home for the purpose of recruiting, except Companies I and K. We were ordered to form a separate battalion, and to act as a guard to Capt. Shumaker's battery of Danville artillery, which position we have occupied ever since, up to the late order of Gen. Jackson. Shortly after our retreat, before the men could recover from cold contracted from exposure, the measles broke out in our company. In Company I alone there were 50 cases. The men have mostly recovered from the measles, but the debility consequent upon this disease has left them unfit for the hard service of the northwest.
There are at present here now 38 men, rank and file, of Company I. Of this number there are not more than 25 who would be fit for duty. The most of the company were granted furloughs from this place and Richmond, and from last accounts they were, or most of them, convalescent. The same statement is true of Company K. Besides the sickness in Company I at this time 7 have died and 6 were taken prisoners. Company K is under command of first lieutenant in Company I, it being destitute of a commander. Two of their lieutenants were take prisoners at Rich Mountain. The other has since died. Their captain has been lying in Richmond sick for the last two or three weeks.
In view of all these facts I most respectfully suggest that if it is not the purpose of the Government to muster these companies out of service, they be permitted to visit their homes under a furlough for thirty days, to recruit their health and attend to their business-such as would need their immediate presence to transact. I will further say that, under favorable circumstances, in thirty days each of these companies ought to report at least 60 men, rank and file.
Respectfully submitted.
JOSEPH JONES,
Capt., Cmdg. Companies I and K, Twentieth Reg't Va.
Vols.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 5, Serial No. 5, Pages 880, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
