HDQRS. DEPT. OF NORTHWESTERN VIRGINIA,
Camp at Laurel Hill, Va., July 1, 1861.
Lieut. Col. GEORGE DEAS,
Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General, Richmond, Va.:
SIR: It is with great reluctance that I feel constrained to call for an addition to my present force, for I know that these calls are coming upon the Government from all quarters, and from some, perhaps, more immediately threatened than I am, as far as I know; but, with the railroad running at my back, I have become satisfied that I cannot operate beyond my present position with any reasonable expectation of success, with the present force under my command, and I deem it my duty to state the fact. My hope of increasing the force has been sadly disappointed. Only eight men have joined me here, and fifteen at Colonel Heck’s camp, not sufficient to make up my losses by discharges. These people are thoroughly imbued with an ignorant and bigoted Union sentiment. Unless success attends me, I should be much embarrassed to hold the passes I now occupy, and they would threaten my movement, which would reduce my movable force to twenty-five hundred. If the necessities of the Government could afford it, I should be glad to have three or four thousand more men; but I must content myself with asking for as many only as can be spared, in the judgment of the Government.
We hear, though with what truth it is impossible to say, that the enemy is receiving accessions to his force. Twenty-two loads are reported to have re-enforced the force at Cheat Bridge. This and some other movements of the enemy seem to indicate an intention of getting in my rear from that point by the Saint George road, and this will require another division of my force, or compel me to fall back to Leadsville, where that road comes into this; but this operation would lose this position to us. I shall transfer to-day Colonel Heck’s regiment to that road, and send five companies, under Colonel Hansborough, to relieve him in his present position, which is a strong one. If necessary, I shall send a regiment from this place to join Colonel Heck. The iron guns will be very acceptable for this or the Buckhannon Pass. If I could get two others, it would give me the bronze batteries for service with my movable force.
I have been waiting anxiously for a quartermaster of experience, but none has yet appeared. It would relieve me of much labor and anxiety if I had a competent officer to take these duties off my shoulders. The muster rolls have not yet arrived.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
R. S. GARNETT,
Brigadier-General.
P. S.—Unless I have been misinformed as to the state of feeling among the people and the condition of things in the Kanawha Valley, it is my opinion that General Wise’s command could be of more service to the cause by operating in the direction of Parkersburg and the Northwestern Railroad. It would produce a very effective diversion in favor of the operations from this point.
R. S. GARNETT,
Brigadier-General.
Sources
The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series I, Vol. II. With additions and corrections. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1902.
Spirit of '61 