Letter
James A. Garfield to Lieutenant M. I. Benham, December 26, 1861
HEADQUARTERS EIGHTEENTH BRIGADE,
Georges Creek, December 26, 1861.
I arrived here last night with 900 men. Twenty-five hundred rebels are at Paintsville, 18 miles distant, with four guns. They are fortifying. The Fourteenth Kentucky can furnish only 500 effective men. They will be here soon. Colonel Lindsey has no equipments and but 600 effective men. Ihave ordered him to joinmeas soon as possible. Send me four small howitzers, with shell and shrapnel, if possible. I can get them here by boat and haul them with our mule teams. Lieut. M. 1. Benham, Forty-second Regiment, awaits answer at Cincinnati.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. A. GARFIELD,
Colonel, Commanding.
Colonel, Commanding.
Editor's Notes
From: Operations in Kentucky, Tennessee, N. Alabama, S.W. Virginia, 1861–62. Location: Georges Creek. Summary: J. A. Garfield reports troop movements and requests four small howitzers with ammunition to strengthen his position against 2,500 rebels fortifying near Paintsville in December 1861.
Topics
Sources
The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 7
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