LEE, Robert E. (1807-1870). Letter signed ("R E Lee Genl"), as Commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, to Confederate Colonel Henry B. Davidson (1831-1899). "Head Quarters Army No. Va / Camp near Fredericksburg." 29 December 1862.

2pp, approx. 7 3/4 x 10 in. on a leaf of blue-ruled paper. Docketed on verso. Provenance: From an archive of correspondence related to CSA Brigadier General Henry B. Davidson.

Lee writes to Henry Brevard Davidson, then serving as colonel in command of the military post at Staunton, Virginia, regarding strategy for the Shenandoah Valley.

"I HOPE THE TROOPS UNDER GEN. JONES, THOSE UNDER YOU, & COL. IMBODEN, WITH SUCH OTHER AID AS CAN BE OBTAINED, WILL BE ABLE SPEEDILY TO RID THAT SECTION OF COUNTRY OF THE PRESENCE OF THE ENEMY & PREVENT THE OPPRESSION OF THE INHABITANTS...."

Known as the "Breadbasket of the Confederacy," many Southerners considered Virginia's Shenandoah Valley region the heart of the South. During the Civil War, it served as a strategic left flank for the defenses of Richmond, a source of much-needed foodstuffs for Confederate forces, and a shielded avenue for a potential Confederate incursion into Washington, D.C. and beyond. From February through June 1862, Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson conducted an audacious campaign throughout the Shenandoah Valley during which he successfully engaged three Union armies and prevented them from being used in a Union offensive against the Confederate capital at Richmond. Generals Jackson and Lee both recognized the strategic advantage to be gained by utilizing the Blue Ridge Mountains as a "natural screen" for troop movements and as an invasion route northward. Sent six months after Jackson's Valley Campaign, this December 1862 letter to Colonel Henry B. Davidson foreshadows Lee's planned incursion into the Shenandoah Valley as part of his ill-fated Gettysburg Campaign.

Lee informs Davidson: "Directions will be given for the baggage of the different Brigades of this Army & the men now guarding it, to be recalled from Staunton, as soon as possible. I will also direct that [Brigadier General Albert G.] Jenkin's Cav. Brigade be ordered to the [Shenandoah] Valley, if they can be spared from the Dept. of West Va." The letter then continues, "I have directed Gen'l W. E. Jones to concentrate the troops in the Valley Distr. and to drive the Enemy if possible beyond the Potomac. I am glad to find that you consider our forces sufficient for the purpose. I hope the troops under Gen Jones, those under you & Col. [John D.] Imboden, with such other aid as can be obtained, will be able speedily to rid that section of Country of the presence of the Enemy & prevent the oppression of the inhabitants which they seem to premeditate. I rely greatly upon the cooperation of yourself & Col. Imboden."

Published in The War of the Rebellion, Series 1, Volume 21, p.1081. Not in The Wartime Papers of R.E. Lee.