Summary:
Union General George Cadwalader writes from Philadelphia in July, 1863, to
General Darius Couch, commanding the Department of the Susquehanna at
Chambersburg. Cadwalader requests that he be allowed to retain the services of
General Dana, and reports on the progress of the draft in Pennsylvania. He
reports that enrollment is going forward quietly in Philadelphia, but in
Schuylkill County an armed force of resisters is rumored to be gathering and
drilling. Cadwalader proposes making plans to deal with any emergency.
Maj. Gen. D. N. COUCH,
Comdg. Dept. of the
Susquehanna, Chambersburg, Pa.:
HDQRS.,
Philadelphia, Pa.,
July 25, 1863.
GEN.:
Your two telegrams of the 23d instant in relation to Maj.-Gen. Dana were dully received, and I have this morning received your letter of the same date by mail.
The services of Maj.-Gen. Dana will, as I have already informed you, be required here in the event of the troops now on duty here being called upon for active service, and in the meantime he is also rendering assistance to Professor Bache in the construction of the works for the defense of the city, with which he has been familiar, and which duties Professor Bache requested that he should continue to perform. I will therefore avail myself of your permission to retain Gen. Dana here for the present.
It seems from your letter just received that you had not received my letter of the 18th instant addressed to Harrisburg informing you of my having been assigned to the command here by the Gen.-in-Chief. The receipt by you of the copy of my instructions, which I subsequently transmitted to you to Chambersburg, supplied you with the information contained in my former letter.
The draft is progressing quietly here, and we do not anticipate any different until it is attempted to take the drafted men who do not report.
I think it proper to state that I hear from different sources of a strong combination in Schuylkill County, in this State, to resist the arrest of drafted men. It is also stated by some of the citizens of Pottsville to consist of about 3,000 men, armed, and having officers who are said to be drilling them, who have been in the U. S. service. It is also stated that they have several pieces of artillery, and that they are supplied with ammunition. It may be important to consider from what direction forces are to be drawn to be sent there when the emergency may arise, and it may perhaps be well that some discreet person should be sent there to inquire about it.
Governor Curtin may perhaps have the information, or could take measures to obtains it.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
GEO. CADWALADER,
Maj.-Gen., Comdg.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 3, Volume 3, Serial No. 124, Pages 573, Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, NC, 1997.
