GENERAL ORDERS No. 116.
HDQRS. ARMY OF NORTHERN
VIRGINIA,
October 2, 1862.
In reviewing the achievements of the army during the present
campaign, the commanding general cannot withhold the expression of his
admiration of the indomitable courage it has displayed in battle and its
cheerful endurance of privation and hardship on the march. Since your great
victories around Richmond, you have defeated the enemy at Cedar Mountain,
expelled him from the Rappahanhock, and, after a conflict of three days,
utterly repulsed him on the plains of Manassas, and forced him to take shelter
within the fortifications around his capital. Without halting for repose, you
crossed the Potomac, stormed the heights of Harper's Ferry, made prisoners of
more than 11,000 men, and captured upward of seventy-five pieces of artillery,
all their small-arms, and other munitions of war. While one corps of the army
was thus engaged, the other insured its success by arresting at Boonsborough
the combined armies of the enemy, advancing under their favorite general to the
relief of their beleagured comrades. On the field of Sharpsburg, with less than
one third his numbers, you resisted from daylight until dark the whole army of
the enemy, and repulsed every attack along his entire front of more than 4
miles in extent. The whole of the following day you stood prepared to resume
the conflict on the same ground, and retired next morning without molestation
across the Potomac. Two attempts subsequently made by the enemy to follow you
across the river have resulted in his complete discomfiture and being driven back
with loss. Achievements such as these demanded much valor and patriotism.
History records few examples of greater fortitude and endurance than this army
has exhibited, and I am commissioned by the President to thank you in the name
of the Confederate States for the undying fame you have won for their arms.
Much as you have done, much more remains to be accomplished. The enemy again
threatens with invasion, and to your tried valor and patriotism the country
looks with confidence for deliverance and safety. Your past exploits give
assurance that this confidence is not misplaced.
R. E. LEE,
General, Commanding.
SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
19, Part 2 (Serial No. 28), p. 644-5; John William Jones, Life and
Letters of Robert Edward Lee: Soldier and Man, p. 196-7
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