ARMY OPERATIONS. 



temptation to the enemy to turn back from the Rappa- 

 hannuck and sack Washington. 



My explicit order that Washington should, by the 

 judgment of all the commanders of corps, be left en- 

 tirely secure, had been neglected. It was precisely 

 this "that drove me to detain McDowell. I do not for- 

 get that I was satisfied with your arrangement to 

 leave Banks at Mauassas Junctiou; but when that ar- 

 rangement was broken up, and nothing was substi- 

 tuted for it, of course I was not satistied ; I was con- 

 strained to substitute something for it myself. 



And now allow me to ask, " Do you really think I 

 should permit the line from Richmond, via Mauassas 

 Junction, to this city, to be entirely open, except what 

 resistance could be presented by less than twenty 

 thousand unorganized troops?" This is a question 

 which the country will not allow me to evade. 



There is a curious mystery about the number of 

 troops now with you. When I telegraphed you on the 

 6th, saying that you had over one hundred thousand 

 with you, I had 'just obtained from the Secretary of 

 War a statement taken, as he said, from your own re- 

 turns, making one hundred and eight thousand then 

 with you, and en route to you. 



You now say you will have but eighty-five thousand 

 when all en. '/-Jute to you shall have reached you. 

 How can the discrepancy of twenty-three thousand be 

 accounted for ? 



As to Gen. Wool's command, I understand it is do- 

 ing for you precisely what a like number of your own 

 would have to do, if that ccfmmand was away. 



I suppose the whole force which has gone forward 

 for you is with you by this time ; and, if so, I think it 

 is ttie precise time for you to strike a blow. By delay 

 the enemy will relatively gain upon you ; that is, he 

 will gain'faster by fortifications and" reinforcements 

 than you can by reinforcements alone. 



And, once more, let me tell you it is indispensable 

 to you that you strike a blow. I am powerless to 

 help this. You will do me the justice to remember I 

 always insisted that going down the bay iu search of 

 a field, instead of fighting at or near Manassas, was 

 only shifting and not surmounting a difficulty ; that 

 we "would find the same enemy and the same or equal 

 intrenchmeuts at either place. The country will not 

 fail to note is now noting that the present hesita- 

 tion to move upon an intrenched enemy is but the 

 story of Manassas repeated. 



I "beg to assure you that I have never written you 

 or spoken to you in greater kindness of feeling than 

 now, nor with a fuller purpose to sustain you so far as 

 in my most anxious judgment I consistently can. But 

 vou must act. 



Yours, very truly, A. LINCOLN. 



When Gen. McClellan sailed he supposed 

 that Gen. McDowell's corps would follow him, 

 and it was not until he was before Yorktown 

 that he received the first intimation to the con- 

 trary. The reason of this change should also 

 be stated. 



By reference to a preceding page, it will be 

 Been that the battle of Winchester took place 

 on the 23d of March, about the time the army 

 of the Potomac was embarking. It startled 

 the Government by revealing a much stronger 

 force of the enemy in their immediate front than 

 they had supposed. At the same time the num- 

 ber of troops at Washington being limited, it 

 was decided that one of the two corps which had 

 not embarked (either McDowell's or Sumner's) 

 should be withheld, and the decision fell upon 

 Gen. McDowell. The same question came up in 

 Congress on the 26th of May, after Gen. Jackson 

 had made his brilliant dash up the Shenandoah, 

 and driven Gen. Banks across the Potomac. Al- 



though it may be anticipating some events, it is 

 proper that the explanation of the withdrawal of 

 McDowell's corps should be here noticed. In the 

 Senate, Mr. Wilson of Massachusetts, chairman 

 of the Committee on Military Affairs, said : " I 

 will state that the Secretary of War is not re- 

 sponsible for the movements charged upon him 

 by the Senator from Kentucky. The President 

 alone is responsible for whatever has occurred, 

 both for arresting the advance of General Mc- 

 Dowell to Yorktown, and withdrawing a por- 

 tion of Gen. Banks's forces. The order arrest- 

 ing the advance of Gen. McDowell was made 

 by the President, with the approval of the 

 Secretary of War, General Hitchcock, and sev- 

 eral other military men. It was given for the 

 best of purposes, and I am sure there was no 

 intrigue about it, nor personal objects gained. 

 It may have been an error ; but, if so, it was 

 an error committed by the President for an 

 honest and patriotic purpose, under the advice 

 of the military men whom he consulted. I 

 understand the fact to be that the President 

 gave written orders in fact I have seen the 

 orders that the number of men necessary for 

 the defence of Washington should be left here, 

 and that that number should be agreed upon 

 by the commanders of the various corps of the 

 army. The commanders of corps held a con- 

 sultation, and decided that forty-rive thousand 

 men were necessary to be held for the defence 

 of this city. All the forces were ordered to be 

 withdrawn from this city, with the exception 

 of nineteen thousand, and four thousand of that 

 number were sent for. Nearly all of the resi- 

 ments left here were recently brought into the 

 service, and four or five of them were cavalry 

 regiments, not mounted, and not in a condition 

 for service. Under these circumstances, ap- 

 prehending precisely what has taken place, the 

 President withheld thirty thousand men un- 

 der Gen. McDowell. Ten thousand of this 

 force, under Gen. Franklin, at the urgent re- 

 quest of Gen. McClellan, were sent forward to 

 Yorktown, but McDowell was held back with 

 twenty thousand men on the Rappahannock 

 to protect the capital and menace Richmond. 

 The President then, in order to concentrate a 

 force here and threaten Richmond, and aid 

 Gen. McClellan's movements, ordered Gen. 

 Shields to unite with Gen. McDowell, thus 

 making an army of about forty thousand men, 

 the intention of which was to move on Rich- 

 mond by land, so as to cover Washington in 

 their movement. This left Gen. Banks a small 

 force, and a movement has been made upon 

 him, and he has been compelled to evacuate 

 the Shenandoah Yalley and recross the Poto- 

 mac. These movements were directed by the 

 President ; and he is alone responsible for them. 

 In doing what he did, I have no doubt he was 

 actuated by honest purposes, and he had the 

 sanction and support of his military advisers, 

 including the Secretary of War." 



Mr. Trumbull of Illinois said : " While the 

 Senator from Massachusetts is making his state- 



