Alexandria, Va.
April 22, 1861
Col. R. E. Lee, Richmond, Va.:
We are the bearers of a letter to you from General Steuart, of Maryland, and we regret, on arriving here, to find you absent. The letter referred to we forward to you in a separate inclosure, to the care of the governor of the State of Virginia. We left Baltimore by way Ellicott’s Mills, the cars having been stopped, on yesterday at 3 p.m., and reached Washington at 2 a.m. The people of Baltimore, and, indeed, the citizens of Maryland generally, are united in one thing at least, viz, that troops volunteering for Federal service against Virginia and other sister Southern States shall not, if they can help it, pass over the soil of Maryland. We have desired to have an interview with the colonel in command at this point, but find him too unwell to be seen. General Steuart will be most anxious to hear from you immediately.
Respectfully,
L. P. Bayne
J. J. Chancellor.
P.S.—I am authorized to say to you by Maj. Montgomery D. Corse, commander of the Alexandria battalion, that if you or the governor desire to communicate with General Steuart or the authorities of Maryland, any dispatch directed to them, to his care, at this point, will be forwarded by horse express across the country immediately.
P.S.—All public communication, I understand has been stopped between Washington and farther north. General Steuart has declared Washington to be under military rule.
Source: War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Vol. 2, 774.
Transcribed by Colin Woodward, 2016 March 8
