well and I should regard it a great loss to the service if he should fail of having his appointment confirmed. He desires in the event of an advance of Meade upon you to cross the mountain and strike the railroad and the enemy's trains in the rear, and I submit whether it would not be well to keep him here with that view.

Respectfully,

J. A. EARLY,

Major-General.

HEADQUARTERS NORTHWEST BRIGADE,
Four and a half Miles South of Swoope's Depot, Augusta County, Va., February 12, 1864.

Colonel R. H. CHILTON,

Chief of Staff, Army of Northern Virginia:

COLONEL: I regret the necessity of troubling the commanding general with a personal matter, and would not do so by for the fact that my official character is involved, and to some extent the public service is affected.

It has come to my knowledge repeatedly that Major General J. A. Early, commanding this district, habitually uses the most disparaging language in respect to my command, and indirectly in regard to myself, in the presence of my own officers and others of the army and citizens indiscriminately, charging in general terms that it is known to every one in the army and to every one in civil life in the valley, where this brigade has been on duty, that it is wholly inefficient, disorganized, undisciplined, and unreliable.

If these opinions of General Early are true inf act this brigade should be speedily disbanded and it men assigned to other commands or some officer be placed in command better qualified than myself to discharge the duties of the position I so unworthily fill. If, on the other hand, they are untrue and justifiable, it is due to me, o less than to the officers and men under my command, that these aspersions, unofficially thrown upon us in the towns and villages of the valley by one whose rank and official relations to the brigade give his remarks a most damaging credence, should be officially contradicted by the judgment of impartial and unprejudiced officers of the army, whose sense of honor will do us justice according to our deserts.

General Early has never said anything to me or in my presence or made any official order to which I have any ground of exception, but the fact that he is my commanding officer justifies me in the effort I now make to defend myself and command against sneers and remarks unofficially and publicly made which are calculated if true to bring me and my command into disrepute and contempt. I hope to be able to prove that General Early has done me and my command gross injustice by yielding to the promptings of prejudice rather than reason.

I therefore respectfully ask that the commanding general will order a court of inquiry to report upon my official conduct since I have commanded this brigade and the Valley District, and into the general character of my command for good order, discipline, courage, and soldierly qualities, and the character and amount of service performed by the brigade since it took the field in April, 1863, and the finding of such court, whatever it may be, with the