HEADQUARTERS FIRST ARMY
CORPS,
November 24, 1864.
General R. E. LEE,
Commanding:
GENERAL: From the report of scouts received yesterday it
seems that the Tenth Corps is still on this side, or if it went over to the
south side has returned. The information, too, seems to indicate the arrival of
the Sixth Corps from the Valley. Under these circumstances, it will be
necessary for me to force the enemy to develop the extent of his move on this
side before making any move of my troops to the south side. This I shall do, of
course, as rapidly as possible. I am going to have the roads leading from White
Oak Swamp to the Williamsburg road well broken up with subsoil plows. I think
that the enemy will then have to build a corduroy there as he moves. He surely
will, if I can have a good gentle rain after the roads are thoroughly plowed
up. Can't you apply this idea to advantage on your side, on the roads that
General Grant will be obliged to travel if he goes to Burkeville? I don't know,
however, but that it would be better for us to go to Burkeville and block the
roads behind him. If the roads that General Sherman must travel to get to
Charleston or Savannah can be deeply plowed and the trees felled over them I
think that General Sherman will not be able to get to his destination in fifty
days, as the Northern papers expect, and it is not thought to be possible that
he can collect more than fifty days' rations before reaching the coast. If
parties are properly organized I think that they might destroy or injure all of
the roads, so as to break down General Sherman's animals and result in the
capture of most of his forces.
I remain, very
respectfully, your most obedient servant,
J. LONGSTREET,
Lieutenant-General.
SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 42,
Part 3 (Serial No. 89), p. 1227; James Longstreet, From Manassas
to Appomattox, p. 640-1
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