Summary:
Confederate General Henry Wise writes Secretary of War Judah P. Benjamin asking
him to send his regiments at Staunton east, to join him in operations along the
coast in January, 1862.
Hon. J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of War:
ROLLISTON, NEAR NORFOLK,
January 26, 1862.
SIR:
I express to you gratefully my acknowledgments for yours of the 23d instant. Your order to be at my post in the hour of apprehended danger was very proper, yet it relieves my absence from reproach to have it said that I hastened away from it only to return as speedily as possible with the means of its defense. The weather has delayed here the transportation of my Second Regiment of Infantry. They started yesterday for Roanoke Island: and I depart to-morrow, if a steam tug, through the canal, can be found. You, I am certain, would have me succeed triumphantly in my duties, and will excuse even eager, as well as anxious, appeals for the means of victory.
Wherever the Burnside expedition may be, the forces of the enemy already in the Hatteras Inlet are sufficient to overwhelm the present forces and means of defense.
I avail myself of your kindness in attending to my requests and helping me to the best of your ability, by asking that you will order commissions to be issued to the following officers: Maj. C. B. Duffield, of cavalry; Ordnance Officer James H. Pearce; Assist. Inspector-Gen. H. Dugan; Adjutant(of the First Regiment of Infantry) Henry A. Wise, jr., and Second Lieuts. (in the Engineer Corps, Artillery) T. C. Kinney, C. Ellis Munford, and R. A. Wise, &e.
Please order the forces of my Legion under Col. Green, at Wilmington, N. C., and the two companies at Staunton, assigned to the command of Col. N. Tyler, to be forwarded to me, and order my artillery corps at Richmond to be furnished with guns, carriages, and caissons, and forwarded. I beg you also to order back to me the Third Regiment of Infantry taken from my command.
With the highest respect, your obedient servant,
HENRY A. WISE,
Brig.-Gen.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Volume 9, Serial No. 9, Pages 141, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
