RICHMOND, November 10, 1861.
Col. D. LEADBETTER:
COLONEL: Herewith you will receive an order to report to
Tennessee, to keep up the line of communication by rail between Bristol and
Chattanooga, Tennessee. Upon arriving in Tennessee you are authorized to call
upon the railroad companies, and also upon communities in vicinity of railroad,
for aid and material, employing both where necessary, giving certificates usual
in such cases. While reconstructing bridges and repairing the roads you will
give due care to the telegraph communication, re-establishing it where
interfered with, exercising in this the authority granted with regard to the
road. To enable you to carry out these instructions Stovall's battalion, with a
light battery, will be ordered to report to you at Bristol, and a regiment
ordered from General Bragg at Chattanooga, to be so disposed of as may best
secure successful accomplishment of your orders. You will report to General A.
S. Johnston by letter your arrival in Tennessee, the nature of your
instructions, also advising General Zollicoffer to the same effect. Full and
frequent reports are desired of your operations, respecting condition of the
road, and disposition of the population adjacent thereto.
I am, sir, respectfully, &c.,
S. COOPER,
Adjutant and Inspector General.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A
Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies,
Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 234-5
