Today in History:

568 Series I Volume XXV-II Serial 40 - Chancellorsville Part II

Page 568 N. VA., W. VA., MD., AND PA. Chapter XXXVII.

decided to withdraw the troops, throw them up the Peninsula and above the enemy at Diascund Bridge, which is as near richmond as West Point. There are at West Point only 4,700 men, and they will be reduced to 4,000 shortly by the discharge of a regiment. General Keyes has only 5,000 men at Gloucester Point, Yorktown, and Williamsburg, and it is very desirable that he should have this re-enforcement. I have lost three regiments and shall lose fourteen more by expiration of service.

JOHN A. DIX,

Major-General, Commanding.

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, May 30, 1863.

Major-General DIX,

Fort Monroe:

The troops withdrawn from West Point are greatly needed. Can they not be spared?

H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief.

WASHINGTON, D. C., May 30, 1863.

Major-General HEINTZELMAN,

Commanding, &c.:

GENERAL: You will telegraph to the forces on the railroad from Bull Run to Rappahannock to be under arms, and ready, with provisions in haversacks, for orders to march. All troops this side of Bull Run must also be ready at any moment to move.

H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief.

WASHINGTON, May 30, 1863.

Major General S. P. HEINTZELMAN,

Commanding Department of Washington:

GENERAL: I make the following recommendations as to names of fortifications around Washington:

That the name of the enlarged work on the eastern bank of the Potomac, above the Chain Bridge, consisting of the three forts now known as Forts Alexander, Franklin, and Ripley, be called Fort Supner, after the late Major General E. V. Summer, who died at Syracuse, N. Y., March 21, 1863.

The three forts above named and incorporated into Fort Sumner to be hereafter styled Redoubt Alexander, Redoubt Franklin, Redoubt Ribley.

That the new fort immediately north of Fort De Kalb, and near the Potomac, be called Fort C. F. Smith, after the late Major General C. F. Smith, who died at Savannah, Tenn., of disease contracted in the service, and who greatly distinguished himself at the battle of Fort Donelson.

That the new fort in progress behind Fort Cass be called Fort Whipple, after the late Major-General Whipple, who died at Washington, D. C., May 7, 1863, of wounds received at the battle of Chancellorsville, Va.


Page 568 N. VA., W. VA., MD., AND PA. Chapter XXXVII.