HDQRS. DEPARTMENT OF
THE RAPPAHANNOCK,
Opposite
Fredericksburg, May 24, 1862.
(Received 9.30
p.m.)
His Excellency the PRESIDENT:
I obeyed your order immediately, for it was positive and
urgent, and perhaps as a subordinate there I ought to stop; but I trust I may
be allowed to say something in relation to the subject, especially in view of
your remark that everything now depends upon the celerity and vigor of my
movements. I beg to say that cooperation between General Frémont and myself to
cut Jackson and Ewell there is not to be counted upon, even if it is not a
practical impossibility. Next, that I am entirely beyond helping distance of
General Banks; no celerity or vigor will avail so far as he is concerned. Next,
that by a glance at the map it will be seen that the line of retreat of the
enemy's forces up the valley is shorter than mine to go against him. It will
take a week or ten days for the force to get to the valley by the route which
will give it food and forage, and by that time the enemy will have retired. I
shall gain nothing for you there, and shall lose much for you here. It is
therefore not only on personal grounds that I have a heavy heart in the matter,
but that I feel it throws us all back, and from Richmond north we shall have
all our large masses paralyzed, and shall have to repeat what we have just
accomplished. I have ordered General Shields to commence the movement by
to-morrow morning. A second division will follow in the afternoon. Did I
understand you aright, that you wished that I personally should accompany this
expedition? I hope to see Governor Chase to-night and express myself more fully
to him.
Very respectfully,
IRVIN McDOWELL,
Major-General.
(Copy to Secretary of War.)
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
12, Part 3 (Serial No. 18), p. 220-1
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