Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 37.djvu/97

Rh to assist him in collecting-supplies. This letter was sent by General Lee to Stuart, through Longstreet, as acknowledged by the latter in his letter of the same date, at 7:30 P. M., addressed to General Lee, in which he says: "Yours of 4 o'clock this afternoon is received. I have forwarded your letter to General Stuart, with the suggestion that he pass by the enemy's rear, if he thinks that he may get through." In forwarding Lee's letter, General Longstreet also addressed a letter to Stuart, dated Millwood, June 22, 1863, 7 P. M., saying: "General Lee has enclosed to me this letter for you, to be forwarded to you, provided you can be spared from my front, and provided I think you can move across the Potomac without disclosing our plans. He speaks of your leaving, via Hopewell Gap, and passing by the rear of the enemy. If you can get through by that route, I think that you will be less likely to indicate what our plans are, than if you should cross by passing to our rear. I forward the letter of instructions with these suggestions. Please advise me of the condition of affairs, before you leave, and order General Hampton, whom I suppose you will leave here in command, to report to me at Millwood, either by letter or in person, as may be most agreeable to him. I think that your passage of the Potomac, by our rear at the present moment, will in a measure, disclose our plans. You had better not leave us, therefore, unless you can take the proposed route in rear of the enemy." As the letter from Lee to Stuart said nothing about moving by Hopewell Gap, which is a gap in the Bull Run Mountains, any allusion to that Gap must have been contained in a letter from Lee to Longstreet, enclosing him the letter to be forwarded to Stuart; and if such a letter exists, the official records do not disclose it.

It must be borne in mind, that at this time Longstreet was at Millwood, in the valley, west of the Shenandoah, with his columns headed north toward the Potomac. General Lee was in the neighborhood of Berryville, a little north of Millwood, while Stuart was holding the gaps in the Blue Ridge. It was possible for Stuart to have withdrawn three brigades and pass between Longstreet and the enemy towards the Potomac, and this seems to be what Longstreet meant when he speaks of