Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/147

Rh is essential to the interests of the Confederate States. I doubt if there are 5,000 Virginians armed and equipped." That same 7th of May the council advised Governor Letcher to issue an order to Major-General Lee to assume command of all forces from other States that had or might hereafter report to him, or tender their services to Virginia, until orders are received from the President of the Confederate States in reference to the same.

It was reported in Richmond, on the 9th, that thirty vessels were detained at Old Point by Commander Pendergrast; one of them a Richmond ship, from South America, with 3,000 bags of coffee, the last of the fine fleet owned at Richmond, that by direct trade with Brazil made that city one of the leading coffee markets of the country, a loss she has never recovered.

On the 10th, Capt. H. Coalter Cabell reported his arrival at Gloucester point, by way of West Point, and the placing of his Virginia battery in position, and that he would soon have that place perfectly safe from attack. He suggested similar works on the Rappahannock, the Potomac and the northern side of James river, adding: "These positions secured and defended by heavy guns, Virginia is safe from invasion by sea."

From Richmond, on the 11th, Rev. Dr. W. N. Pendleton, of Lexington, Va. (afterward captain of the Rockbridge artillery, and later colonel and brigadier-general of artillery), wrote to President Davis: "As you value our great cause, hasten on to Richmond. Lincoln and Scott are, if I mistake not, covering by other demonstrations the great movement upon Richmond. Suppose they should send suddenly up the York river, as they can, an army of 30,000 or more; there are no means at hand to repel them, and if their policy shown in Maryland gets footing here, it will be a severe, if not a fatal blow. Hasten, I pray you, to avert it. The very fact of your presence will almost answer. Hasten, then. I entreat you, don't lose a day." Pendleton was a classmate of Davis at West Point, and an intimate friend.

Maj. Benjamin S. Ewell, in command of the Virginia militia at Williamsburg, wrote on the 11th to Adjutant-General Garnett that a better disposition to volunteer in the service of the State had been evinced by the citizens of James City, York and Warwick, and he hoped to be able to report within a week five or six companies mustered in