[Second indorsement.]

SEPTEMBER 27, 1864.

General KEMPER:

Answer this and inform General Lee the case as it stands.

J. A. S[EDDON],

Secretary.

[Third indorsement.]

HEADQUARTERS RESERVE FORCES VIRGINIA,
September 27, 1864.

Respectfully returned.

I have dispatched full answer to General Lee. Five hundred of the Valley Reserves have been brought east and are serving around Richmond. The balance are in the Valley, and Brigadier General E. G. Lee was ordered, on the 22nd instant, to embody them immediately and report with them to General Early. The enemy have swept so suddenly up the Valley that I fear many of the reserves, as well as active forces, have been scattered.

J. L. KEMPER,

Brigadier-General.

SPECIAL ORDERS, ADJT. AND INSP. GENERAL'S OFFICE, No. 229.
Richmond, September 27, 1864.

* * * * *

XLIV. Brigadier General H. B. Davidson, Provisional Army, C. S., will report to Lieutenant General J. A. Early for assignment to duty under Major General L. L. Lomax.

By command of the Secretary of War:

JNO. WITHERS,
Assistant Adjutant-General.

CONFIDENTIAL.] HEADQUARTERS,

Petersburg, September 27, 1864.

General J. A. EARLY,

Commanding Valley:

GENERAL: Your letter of the 25th is received.* I very much retreat the reverses that have occurred to the army in the Valley, but trust they can be remedied. The arrival of Kershaw will add greatly to your strength, and I have such confidence in the men and officers that I am sure all will unite in the defense of the country. It will require that every one should exert all his energies and strength to meet the emergency. One victory will put all things right. You must do all in your power to invigorate your army. Get back all absentees; maneuver so, if you can, as to keep the enemy in check until you can, as to keep the enemy in check until you can strike him with all your strength. As far as I can judge, at this distance, you have operated more with divisions than with your concentrated strength. Circumstances may have rendered it necessary, but such a course is to be avoided if possible. It will required the greatest watchfulness, the greatest promptness, and the most untiring energy on your part to arrest the progress of the enemy in his present tide of

---------------

*See Part I, p. 557.

---------------