Monday, October 17, 2022

Brigadier-General George H. Thomas to Brigadier-General Albin F. Schoeph, November 7, 1861

HEADQUARTERS,        
Crab Orchard, Ky., November 7, 1861.
Brigadier-General SCHOEPF,
        Commanding Camp Calvert, London, Ky.:

GENERAL: I find it necessary to reply to Governor Johnson's letter in the manner of the foregoing, which I send to you for your information. It is time that discontented persons should be silenced both in and out of the service. I sympathize most deeply with the Tennesseeans on account of their natural anxiety to relieve their friends and families from the terrible oppression which they are now suffering; but to make the attempt to rescue them when we are not half prepared is culpable, especially when our enemies are as anxious that we should make the move as the Tennesseeans themselves; for it is well known by our commanding general that Buckner has an overwhelming force within striking distance whenever he can get us at a disadvantage. I hope you will therefore see the necessity of dealing decidedly with such people, and you have my authority and orders for doing so. We must learn to abide our time, or we shall never be successful.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,
GEO. H. THOMAS,        
Brigadier-General, U. S. Volunteers.

SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume 4 (Serial No. 4), p. 343

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