HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF
NORTHERN VIRGINIA,
July 11, 1864.
LIEUT.-GEN. J. A. EARLY, Commanding, etc.
GENERAL: Your letter of the 7th was received this morning.
Your movements and arrangements appear to me to have been judicious, and I am
glad you did not delay to storm the works at Maryland Heights. It was better to
turn them and endeavor to draw from them. I hope you get the Northern papers,
as they will keep you advised of their preparations to oppose you. They rely
greatly upon General Hunter's force coming in your rear. About the 4th instant,
as far as I can judge, he was in the vicinity of Charleston on the Kanawha,
with his own, Averell's and Crook's commands. To encounter you in your present
position he must either ascend the Ohio to Parkersburg and take the railroad to
Grafton, thence by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, if that is left practicable,
or go up to Pittsburg, and thence by the Central Pennsylvania. You will be able
to judge of the time that either of these routes will require to bring him in
position, and I think that even his whole force, aided by such troops as might
join him, would be unable to oppose you successfully.
I ascertained some days ago that on the 6th instant General
Grant sent off a portion of his troops, and, as far as I am able to judge, they
consisted of Rickett's division of the Sixth Corps, and their destination was
Washington City. I think it probable that about a brigade of cavalry without
their horses were sent on the night of the 6th to the same point. I learn this
morning from our scouts on the James River that about the same number of
troops, judging from the transports, descended the river yesterday, and I
presume they are bound for Washington City. Whether these belong to the Sixth
Corps or have been taken from other corps of his army, which I think more
probable, I have not yet ascertained. We may, however, assume that a corps or
its equivalent has been sent by General Grant to Washington, and I send a
special messenger to apprise you of this fact, that you may be on your guard
and take this force into consideration with others that may be brought to
oppose you. In your further operations you must of course be guided by the
circumstances by which you are surrounded and the information you may be able
to collect, and must not consider yourself committed to any particular line of
conduct, but be governed by your good judgment. Should you find yourself
obliged, in consequence of the forces opposed to you, to return to the south
side of the Potomac, you can take advantage of the fords east of the Blue
Ridge, keeping your cavalry well to your front and causing them to retire by
fords between you and Washington. In the event of your recrossing the Potomac,
your route through Loudoun will facilitate the procurement of provisions,
forage, etc., for your command, and will be otherwise most advantageous, giving
you a strong country through which to pass, and enabling you, if pressed, to
retire into the Valley and threaten and hang upon the enemy's flank should he
push on toward Richmond.
I recommend that you have the fords of the Potomac examined
by a competent officer, and held by a small force of cavalry or infantry as you
may deem most advisable.
I can tell nothing further of the expedition mentioned to
you in my letter of the 3d instant than was stated in that letter, having heard
nothing from it since, except that the subject was a matter of general
conversation in Richmond, which may tend to frustrate it.
You can retain the special messenger until you may wish to
send him back for any purpose. I need not state to you the advantage of
striking at the bodies of troops that may be collected to oppose you in detail
before they are enabled to unite. None of the forces that I have mentioned, nor
any reported in the Northern papers as being likely to oppose you, will be
able, in my opinion, to resist you, provided you can strike them before they
are strengthened by others. Should you hear of the near approach of General
Hunter, and can strike at him before he is reinforced by troops from the East,
you can easily remove that obstacle from your path, in my opinion.
Trusting you and our cause to the care of a merciful
Providence, I remain,
Very respectfully,
your obedient servant,
R. E. LEE,
General.
SOURCE: John William Jones, Life and Letters of
Robert Edward Lee: Soldier and Man, p. 335-6
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