Hdqrs. Department of Northern Virginia,
August 8, 1862
Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson,
Commanding Valley District:
General: Your letter of the 7th is received. If your information is correct, your movement against the enemy in Culpeper [County] is judicious. I hope you may be able to strike him moving, or at least be able to draw him from his strong positions. Relying upon your judgment, courage, and discretion, and trusting to the continued blessing of an ever-kind Providence, I hope for victory. An officer of the quartermaster’s department leaves this evening with 50 wagons and teams for you. Twenty wagons and teams will be sent you from Lynchburg. The remaining 30 I will endeavor to draw from the train of this army. A field battery will also be sent you, and would be on the road to-day but for the absence of General Pendleton. As regards General Robertson, I will to-day see the Secretary of War. That subject is not so easily arranged, and without knowing any of the circumstances attending it except as related by you, I fear the judgment passed upon him may be hasty. Neither am I sufficiently informed of the qualifications of Col. W. E. Jones, though having for him a high esteem, to say whether he is better qualified. With best wishes for you and your command,
I am, very respectfully,
R. E. Lee,
General
Source: The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Vol. 12, Part 3, p. 926
Transcribed by Colin Woodward, 2016 July 28
