NEAR PETERSBURG, December
14, 1864.
MR. PRESIDENT:
After sending my dispatch to you yesterday, knowing that the
snow in the Valley was six inches deep and the weather very cold, and presuming
that active operations would necessarily be suspended, I directed Rodes's
division to march for Staunton and requested the quartermaster-general to send
cars to convey it to Richmond. It is now on the road, and should reach Staunton
tomorrow evening. If the quartermaster's department is active, it should arrive
in Richmond Friday morning. A dispatch received from General Early last night
stated that the scouts just in report that the Nineteenth Corps of the enemy
had left the Valley, and that the Eighth was under marching orders. The latter
might be preparing to move nearer the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, for I do not
think they will strip it of all defense, or both corps may be coming to General
Grant. Colonel Withers's scouts report that a New York regiment of infantry and
part of the Seventh Regiment of cavalry had left the Kanawha for the valley;
but I suppose they might have been intended to replace the garrison at New
Creek. I do not know what may be General Grant's next move; his last against
the Weldon Railroad and our right flank failed. The expeditions from Plymouth
and New Berne against Fort Branch on the Roanoke, and Kinston, N. C., have both
retreated, before the forces moved against them, back to their former
positions. Everything at this time is quiet in the departments of Virginia and
North Carolina. If the reports of the prisoners and the statements of Federal
officers to the citizens of the country are true, the object of the last
expedition was to make a permanent lodgment at Weldon, draw supplies by the
Roanoke and Seaboard Railroad and thence operate against the railroad in North
Carolina. General Grant may not now be prepared to break through our center, as
the canal at Dutch Gap is reported nearly completed. As long as he holds so
large an army around Richmond, I think it very hazardous to diminish our force.
We now can oppose about a division to one of his corps. I fear Savannah is in
great danger, and unless our operations there are bold and energetic I am
apprehensive of its fall. I hope, though, if all our troops are united Sherman
may be repulsed. But there is no time to lose. If the Nineteenth Corps does not
come to Grant we might spare a division; but if the Nineteenth and Eighth are
both drawn to him, we shall require more than we have. I ordered Gen. J. A.
Walker with the Virginia reserves from Weldon to Kinston to oppose the movement
against that place. He is now on his return to his position on the Danville and
Southside Roads.
With a firm reliance on our merciful God that He will cause
all things to work together for our good, I remain, with great respect,
Your obedient
servant,
R. E. LEE,
General.
SOURCE: John William Jones, Life and Letters of
Robert Edward Lee: Soldier and Man, p. 345-6
