The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-03-01
dispatch to the President, dated june

that on that account, Major General
! French's arrival Will weaken instead
of strengthen US beg to you to con
slider that all the General officers OF
Northern birth on duty in this depart
ment There is now a want of Ma
jor-Generals.
SIT is important to avoid any cause
of further discomfort
lSignedl 81, E JOHNSTON"
To this dispatch the President re-
piled on the 18th of June as follows
To General Joseph E Johnston:
Your dispatch received Those who
suggested that the arrival of General
French will produce discomfort among
the troops, because of his Northern
birth, are not probably aware that he is
a citizen of Mississippi, was a wealthy
planter until the Yankees robbed him,
and before the Confederate States had
an army, was the chief of ordnance and
artillery in the force Mississippi raised
TO maintain her right of secession As
soon as Mississippi could spare him, he
was appointed a Brigadier General in the
provisional army of the Confederate
States and has frequently been before
the enemy, where he was the senior Off
GER If malignity should undermine
him, as it has another, you are author
lied to notify him of the fact, and to
relieve him, communicating it to me by
telegram. Surprised by your remarks
as to the general officers of Northern
birth, turned to the register and find
that large majority of the number are
elsewhere than in the Department of
Mississippi and Eastern Louisiana
lSigned] JEFFERSON DAVIS"
The next point of difference seems to
have been with reference to the geo
graphical limits of Gen. Johnstons mil
itary department, that officer conceiv-
ing that the transfer to Mississippi re-
lieved him from the command of the
Confederate forces in Tennessee. On
the 18th of june he telegraphed the
Secretary of War, from jackson, Missis-
sippi;
have not considered myself com
handing in Tennessee since assignment
here, and should not have felt author
lied to take troops from that depart
ment after having been informed by
the Executive that the no more could
be spared To take from Bragg force
which would make this army fit to OPP
pose Grant would involve yielding Ten
nessee 1t is for the Government to
decide between this State and Tennes-
see"
This dispatch was replied to by the
President under date of the 18th of
June:
" To Gen j. E. Johnston, JacEson, Hiss:
"Your dispatch Of 18th instant, to
Secretary of War, noted. The order to
go to Mississippi did not diminish your
authority in Tennessee, both being in
the country placed under your COM
mand in original assignment To what
do you refer as information from me
restricting your authority to transfer
troops, because no more could be spared?
Officers ordered TO you for duty gen
orally are Of course, subject to assign
ment by you
[Signed1 JEFFERSON DAVIS"
On the 18th Of June, General John
ston telegraphed from Jackson, Missis-
sippi. to the Secretary Of War. that he
could not advise in regard to the points
from which troops could be taken,
having no means of knowing; that it
was for the Government to determine
which it was best to yield, Tennessee or
Mississippi that without some great
blunder of the enemy, both could not
be held
In answer to the Presidents dispatch
of the 18th, General Johnston replied,
under date of the 10th, from Jackson:
so his ErceHcney the President replied:
"Your dispatch of 18th received I
meant to tell the Secretary of War that
l considered the order directing me to
command here as limiting my authori-
ty to this department, especially when
that order was accompanied by War
Department orders transferring troops
from Tennessee to Mississippi: and,
whether commanding there or not, that
your reply to my application for more
troops, that none could be spared,
would have made it improper for me to
order more from Tennessee Permit
me to repeat that an officer having a
task like mine far above his ability, can
not, in addition, command other remote
departments No General can com
mand separate armies
II have not yet been able TO procure
the means of moving these troops.
They are too weak TO accomplish much.
The reinforcements you mention have
Joined Grant
[Signedl ~. E JOHNSTON"
At this point in the correspondence,
the President wrote letter to General
Johnston, in which he reviewed at
length all the points at issue between
them He aIludes to the latter's as
signment to defined geographical
command, by Special Order No 275,
which order described the command as
including portion Of Western North
Carolina and Northern Georgia, the
States of Tennessee, Alabama, and Mis-
sissippi, and that portion Of the State
Of Louisiana east Of the Mississippi
We make the following extract from
this letter:
yEFF. DAVIS REVIEW OF THE ucKsBUEG
CAMPAIGN.
When l learned that prejudice and
malignity had so undermined the con-
Of the troops at Vicksburg in
their commander, as to threaten disas-
ter. deemed the circumstances such
az to present the case foreseen in
Special Order No. 275, that you should I
repair, in person, TO any part Of said
whenever your presence (
might be, for the time present, neces- I
sary or desirable.
You we're therefore ordered, on the
9th Of May, to proceed at once 10
Mississippi, and take chief command
of the forces, giving 70 those in the
field. as far a. practicable, the encour- /
agement and benefit of your personal |
direction"
Some details were added about rein !
forcemeEts, bat not word affecting, in
the remotest degree, your authority TO
command your geographical district.
On the 4th Of June you telegraphed
70 the Secretary Of War in response to /
his inquiry, saying, my only plan Is to
relieve Vicksburg, by force is far too
small for the purpose. Tell me if you
can increase it, and how much" To
which he answered, on the 9Th, re-
gret inability to promise more troops,
as We have drained resources even %
the danger Of several points You
know best concerning General Bragg
army, but / fear to withdraw more
We are too far outnumbered IN Virginia