Report of General G.T. Beauregard,
commanding Confederate Forces,
Department of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida
HDQRS. DEPT. OF S. CAROLINA, GEORGIA, AND FLORIDA,
Charleston, S.C., February 21, 1864.
Respectfully forwarded, for the information of the War Department.
All available troops have been dispatched from Georgia, Middle Florida, and South Carolina to the assistance of Brigadier-General Finegan, in view of the importance of the resources of that section and of the apparent opportunity of striking the enemy an effective blow. There will soon be concentrated there about 8,000 men of all arms of the service, including at least 1,800 cavalry. Brigadier-General Taliaferro has been sent to assume command for the present and organize the troops into three brigades of infantry, with the cavalry and infantry embodied, respectively, under proper officers.
Brigadier-General Gardner, I have just learned by telegraph, has repaired to Lake City from Middle Florida, and I have directed him to assume command until the arrival of Brigadier-General Taliaferro, who has my verbal and written instructions as to line of operations. Had I been confident of Brigadier-General Gardner's physical ability for the field (an active command), as I have great confidence in his soldierly qualities, I should have ordered him to the spot at once, but he had but recently been in Augusta for a surgical operation, and I feared he was unequal physically to the place.
I shall in a few days hasten to the scene, and hope to be able to take the offensive at once. A rigid investigation shall be made into the circumstances under which the command of Lieutenant-Colonel McCormick was surprised and dispersed and their guns captured.
G. T. BEAUREGARD,
General, Commanding.
Copied from The Official Records of the War of Rebellion.
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