"Fort Lowry" Topic

I've run across, in the Official Records (I:5:1099-1100), references to a Fort Lowry in correspondence between Lee and T. H. Holmes, in March of '62 -- evidently somewhere near Fredericksburg. Anyone know where/what it was?

(I'm mostly interested in why it was so named, or for whom.)

hmdb.org/m.asp?m=25231

There's apparently a book: link

Fort Lowry and Raiders on the Rappahannock (2002) by Carroll M. Garnett

Thank you both, very much!

Why would Lee have been writing Holmes? When Holmes was commanding in that area he was under Johnston's command.

Wasn't Lee in Richmond as some kind of high muckymuck at the time? Looks like Jefferson Davis' military advisor?

What Murvihill said.

Does anyone know exactly where the fort was? On the Potomac?

My link has a hyperlink to a map; south bank of the Rappahannock, about 4 miles downriver from Tappahannock.

I've skimmed through the correspondence and stand by my statement. From what I understand Holmes' Department fell under Johnston's command. At the time Lee was communicating with Holmes, Johnston was trying to establish his new defense line along the Rappahannock. That included shifting additional troops to Holmes' command which was defending the left end of that Rappahannock position. Lee should have been communicating with Holmes through Johnston to minimize the chances Lee's instructions would interfere with Johnston's plans.

Ah, thanks, Eumelus, I missed that. So, not that far from Urbana, where McClellan had planned to land. Who knows? There could have been a Battle of Fort Lowry if Joe Johnston hadn't fallen back from Manassas when he did!

Bill N: Your argument is with Lee, not me.

Just where in the chain of command does military adviser to the president fall? What is the content of the letter, advice or orders? Did Lee have a personal relationship with Holmes? Was Lee acting on orders from Davis (in which case Holmes would be expected to notify Johnston)?

Adjt. and Insp. Gen.'s Office, Richmond, March 13, 1862

General Orders, No. 14

General Robert E. Lee is assigned to duty at the seat of government; and, under the direction of the President, is charged with the conduct of military operations in the armies of the Confederacy.

By command of the Secretary of War: S. Cooper,
Adjutant and Inspector General

OR Series I, Volume 5, page 1099.

That would make him either general-in-chief or operations officer (not that there was such a thing in the Confederate Army), but Jeff Davis made all the big decisions (and a lot of the little ones).

The message to Holmes was written the next day, 14 March '62, and Lee signed it R. E. Lee, General Commanding, as, I think, he usually did.

Aah, so he was in the chain of command at the time. When I was in the Navy if the captain gave me an order directly he (and my immediate boss, the department head) would expect me to notify the chain of command. This in the case of either time-sensitive or trivial-and-convenient items (like painting a f@[& light fixture).
What was the message?

It isn't a question of whether Richmond had the authority to deal directly with Holmes. Rather it is a question of the propriety and wisdom of doing so. Especially in an era before instantaneous communications where Johnston might not have found out in a timely manner.

Reading Lee's Lieutenants Freeman concludes Johnston, while commanding the forces in Virginia, could be prickly. If Richmond was dealing directly with Johnston's subordinates rather than going through Johnston then Johnston had good reason to be prickly.

Any general that had Jeff Davis looking over his shoulder had reason to be prickly.

I don't care to type in the whole message Lee sent Holmes, but his final sentence summarizes it well: "Please advise me of the condition of affairs on the river and what, in your opinion, can be done to close its navigation to the enemy."

OR I:5:1099.