WAR DEPARTMENT,
May 24, 1862 — 5 p.m.
Major-General
McDOWELL,
Fredericksburg:
General Frémont has
been ordered by telegraph to move from Franklin on Harrisonburg to relieve
General Banks, and capture or destroy Jackson's and Ewell's forces.
You are instructed,
laying aside for the present the movement on Richmond, to put 20,000 men in
motion at once for the Shenandoah, moving on the line or in advance of the line
of the Manassas Gap Railroad. Your object will be to capture the forces of
Jackson and Ewell, either in co-operation with General Frémont or, in case want
of supplies or of transportation interferes with his movements, it is believed
that the force with which you move will be sufficient to accomplish this object
alone. The information thus far received here makes it probable that if the
enemy operate actively against General Banks you will not be able to count upon
much assistance from him, but may even have to release him.
Reports received
this moment are that Banks is fighting with Ewell 8 miles from Winchester.
A. LINCOLN.
[Indorsement]
Order General
Shields to take up his line of march to-morrow for Catlett's.
I. McD.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 12,
Part 3 (Serial No. 18), p. 219
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