Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia,
December 13, 1862
General S. Cooper
Adjutant and Inspector General, Richmond, Va.:
General: Your dispatch of yesterday has been received. It will be impossible to re-enforce Wilmington from this army. I would wish it to be double its present strength for the work before it, if practicable. Detachments from it to that distance lays open Richmond to General Burnside. Re-enforcements for Wilmington and the coast of North Carolina generally, must be drawn from that State. In the event of no attack upon South Carolina or Georgia, General Beauregard could reinforce Wilmington, and I recommend that that course be adopted. The people must turn out to defend their homes, or they will be taken from them.
Source: The War of the Rebellion, Series 1, Volume 21, p. 1061
Transcribed by Colin Woodward, 2018 February 12
