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770 Series I Volume XXXVI-II Serial 68 - Wilderness-Cold Harbor Part II

Page 770 OPERATIONS IN SE. VA. AND N. C. Chapter XLVIII.

a telegraph office on steamer Diamond, 16 miles below this place, and so informed all who made inquiries, of me, and I have forwarded dispatches for War Department whenever I have been applied to.

Respectfully,

P. P. PITKIN,

Captain and Assistant Quartermaster.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington city, D. C., May 14, 1864.

Captain COLLINS,

Superintendent of Dispatches, Belle Plain:

Report on receipt of this telegram (report by telegraph) at what hour you left Washington; when you arrived at Belle Plain; at what hour and where you first saw Mr. Bickford, the telegraph operator; where your quarters are at Belle Plain; what measures, if any, you have taken to inform military officer at Belle Plain of thaw existence of a telegraph line, and the duties you are charged with. You will also report upon every trip of the Diamond her arrival and departure from Belle Plain. You are expected to be vigilant and diligent in the discharge of your duties. Dispatches from General Grant have, since you reached Belle Plain, been delayed twelve hours, because the courier could find no telegraph officer or station. Report at least every four hours, noting what transpires at Belle Plain. If, at any time, dispaTches from headquarters reach Belle Plain in the absence of the Diamond, go immediately to the quartermaster, and call on him for a boat to take dispatches across the river, to the telegraph station. Show him this telegram, as an order to furnish the boat immediately. See yourself that the dispatches are delivered promptly to the telegraph operator at the station to be transmitted. Report any delay of the quartermaster to furnish the boat.

EDWIN M. STANTON.

Secretary of War.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington City, May 14, 1864.

E. L. WENTZ,

Chief Engineer and General Supt. Military R. R. of Va.:

Should you need a small escort in making the examination of the railroad between Aquia Creek and Falmouth, call upon General Abercrombie, at Belle Plain, to furnish it.

JAS. A. HARDIE,

Colonel and Inspector-General.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington, D. C., May 14, 1864.

Colonel SCHRIVER,

Commanding at Fredericksburg:

This Department allows no civilian visitors to go to Belle Plain or Fredericksburg, unless to see wounded relatives. Passes have been refused, without exception, to Senators or Representatives. If


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