Culpepper C. H., Va., April 9, 1864.
. . . Rain. The ride of yesterday was too much for me and
has excited my cough.
Read the Sermon on the Mount — “the Lord's prayer lifted the
gloom from my soul.”
To-day's information is that Lee has but thirty-five
thousand infantry in our front, with 15,000 more at Lynchburg under Longstreet,
or 50,000 in all, exclusive of cavalry and artillery. The rebel conscription
has brought but few men to their ranks.
I am of the opinion that Lee's force is much larger than is
stated above, but this statement does not vary much from the estimate made by
Generals Meade and Butler.
Enclosed I send you what I had written Enos Ripley in
December, 1862, from Oxford, Miss. It is hurriedly written but gives my
impression of affairs at the time. It was never finished or sent, but please preserve
it, for it may some time be of benefit to me1 . . . I send you also a general order issued
by General McPherson. You will see the point of interest in it; also the order
from the adjutant general's office announcing General Grant's staff, in which you
will not fail to see my name. I sent you the other day for preservation,
without note or comment, a copy of a letter written by me to Hon. E. B.
Washburne from the rear of Vicksburg, also General Grant's original order to
his troops after the battle of Port Gibson.
_______________
1 Not found.
SOURCE: James H. Wilson, The Life of John A. Rawlins,
p. 414
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