Cincinnati 29 July 61
Gov. Pierpoint[sic]
Your Excellency
We have reliable information this morning - that Wise has retreated from the Kanawha Valley - I shall leave Gallipolis to morrow[sic] evening on my way to ther[sic] - You are fully aware of the misfortune of organizing civil as well as military government in that region, Promptly, will you have the [illegible] to forward an authentic copy of [unreadable] recent enactments touching the reorganized in its important features with authority to some one[sic] who can to carry them out - I am unable to point out specifically, the individual best qualified to swear in political offices and to lead our police forces - When I shall have investigated the statutes of our remaining Union Forces, I would no doubt point out the right men. Could you furnish commissions in blank?
I shall love no time in setting on foot the military communications - and will communicate from time to time information deemed important.-
Please direct your communications through W.H. Langley Gallipolis Ohio
Yours Very Respfy[sic]
L. Ruffner
My [illegible] in Kanawha Salines V.a.
Transcription by Victoria Souhala, undergraduate student enrolled in Dr. Billy Joe Peyton's Fall 2010 "Introduction to Public History" at West Virginia State University