BRIGADIER GENERAL GEORGE D. RUGGLES - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 08/10/1862 - HFSID 85083

GEORGE D. RUGGLES
As two Union armies converge, the future US Adjutant General warns General Banks not to fire on the friendly forces of General Pope. (Ironically, it would be their brilliant adversary, Stonewall Jackson, who would die from friendly fire one year later.)
ALS: "Geo. D. Ruggles/Col &C" in pencil, 1p, 3½x5½. Headquarters, Army of Virginia, Near Culpeper, 1862 August 10. To General N.P. Banks. In full: "The infantry & cavalry advancing on road from Madison C.H. [Courthouse] are undoubtedly our troops. Be very cautious not to fire into them if they be friends." Signed beneath imprinted: "By command of Maj. Gen'l Pope". George D. Ruggles (1833-1904), a West Pointer (1855), served on the staffs of Union Generals Pope and McClellan before transferring to staff duty in Washington. From 1865 to 1891, he served as Adjutant General for various regional Departments of the US Army, becoming US Adjutant General (and a brigadier general) from November 1893 until his 1898 retirement. On June 29, 1862, Colonel. Ruggles became Assistant Adjutant-General and Chief of Staff to General Pope at the headquarters of the Army of Virginia. After Confederate armies had successfully blocked General McClellan's Peninsula Campaign in battles around Richmond in July, 1862, Union armies under Generals John Pope and Nathaniel Banks were attempting an offensive in northern and western Virgina, but on August 9, 1862, this advance was halted by Confederate forces under Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson at the Battle of Cedar Mountain. The resulting confusion in the Union ranks no doubt prompted this letter. Nineteen days later, Jackson defeated Pope's army at Second Manassas. Ironically, it would be Stonewall Jackson who would die from shots fired by his own troops, during his brilliant flank attack at Chancellorsville (May 2, 1863). Lightly soiled and stained. Nicked right edge, upper right corner missing.