Summary:
Confederate Colonel Michael Harman, commanding at Staunton, writes Jefferson
Davis in October, 1861, concerning orders for troops in western Virginia.
His Excellency PRESIDENT DAVIS, Richmond:
STAUNTON, VA.,
October 22, 1861.
DEAR SIR:
I received on yesterday a pressing letter from Gen. H. R. Jackson, commanding on the Monterey line, to urge the commanding officer of the Fifty-eighth Virginia Regt. to march immediately for Fork of Waters, on the Seneca road. I immediately telegraphed Gen. S. Cooper, and he has ordered the regiment to move without delay. My object in writing to you is to urge the importance of having at least two regiments on the Hardy line the guard the Seneca road. It would be a serious affair indeed if the enemy were to push forward a force on that line and get possession of our supplies at Monterey and come in the rear of our forces on the Alleghany and at Greenbrier river, by which movement, they having a strong force at Cheat Mountain, our forces would be surrounded. The Fifty-eighth Virginia regiment has a great many men sick in the hospital, and numbers scarcely 400 effective men. I inclose you a copy of Gen. Jackson's letter. I fear that the Seneca road, not being guarded at all, gives an opportunity for pretended friends to pass and give information to the enemy which may induce this movement on their part. I hope you will send a regiment up immediately, if it can possibly be done, if you concur in the importance I attach to guarding this line.
With the highest consideration, I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
M. G. HARMAN,
Lieut.-Col., Cmdg.
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 912-913, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
