Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia,
January 22, 1863
Col. J. D. Imboden, Commanding, &c.:
Colonel: Your letter has been received, with the accompanying documents, on the subject of changing the organization of your corps and increasing its strength. I hope you will proceed at once with the good work. I cannot at present spare the Twenty-fifth and Thirty-first Virginia Regiments. The four companies of the Twenty-fifth Virginia Regiment, now at Warm Springs, and promised to you by the War Department, properly belong here to the Twenty-fifth. You can take them, and let them serve as a basis on which to recruit for the regiment, until the two portions can be brought together. The men who do not desire to join other regiments you can recruit for these two (the Thirty-first and Twenty-fifth) and keep them attached to your command for the time being. I think some arrangements were made, while this army was in the valley, to recruit for these regiments. I inclose to you the original documents from General Cooper, &c., as you request; also the letter of Major Thompson, the indorsement on which please note. I hope you will meet with speedy success in filling up your command to a brigade, when I shall take great pleasure in recommending you for promotion.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
R E Lee,
General
Source: The War of the Rebellion, Series 1, Volume 21, p. 1109
Transcribed by Colin Woodward, 2018 March 12
