The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-03-01

vi the AOkn OF June, YOU answered
that it was for the Government to de
termine what department. could furnish
the Reinforcement; that you could not
know how General Braggs wants com
pared with yours; and that the Govern.
ment could make the comparison. Your
statements, that the Government IN
Richmond was better able 70 Judge OF
the relative necessities of the armies
under your command than YOU were,
and the further statement, that YOU
could not know how General Bragg 5
wants compared with yours, were con
sidered extraordinary; but, as they
we're accompanied by the remark that
I the Secretary's dispatch had been I'M
/ perfectly deciphered no observation
was made on them till the receipt of
I your telegram to the Secretary, Of the
! 18th inst, stating, 81 have not consid-
cred myself commanding in Tennessee
/ since assignment here, and should not
have felt authorized to take troops from
that department. after having been in
! formed by the Executive that no more
could be spared
My surprise at these two statements
was extreme You had never been
assigned to the Mississippi command
You went there under the circumstances
and orders already quoted, and no JUS
tltlcatlon whatever is perceived for your
abandonment Of your duties as COM
manding General of the geographical
duties to which you were assigned.
Ordersas explicit as those under which
you continued to act up to the 9th Of
May, when you were directed to repair
in person to Mississippi, can only bel i'm
paired or set aside by subsequent orders
equally as explicit; and your announce
ment that you had ceased 70 consider
yourself charged with the control of
affairs in Tennessee, because ordered to
repair in person to Mississippi, both
places being within the command to
which you were assigned, was too grave
TO be overlooked and when to this was
added the assertion that you should not
have felt authorized to draw troops from
that department. (Tennessee) after
being informed by the Executive that
no more could be spared" I was unable
to account for your language, being en-
tirely confident that had never given
you such information.
/ shall now proceed to separate your
two statements, and begin with that
which relates to your " not considering
yourself commanding in Tennessee
since assignment here e, in Mis-
sissippi
When you received my telegram of
the 18th of June, informing you that
the orders TO go to the Mississippi did
not diminish Your authority in Ten
nessee, both being in the country placed
under your command IN original as
signment," accompanied by an inquiry
about the information, said to have been
derived from me, restricting your au-
thority to transfer troops, your answer
on the 10th June was: / meant to
tell the Secretary of War that / con-
sidered the order directing me to COM
mand here as limiting my authority to
this department, especially when that
order was accompanied by War Depart
ment orders transferring troops from
Tennes- see to Mississippi"
This is, in substance, a repetition Of
the previous statement without any
reasons being given for it. The fact Of
orders being sent to you to transfer
some of the troops in your department.
from one point to another, to which YOU
were proceeding in person, could give
no possible ground for your consider
ing" that Special Order No 275 was
rescinded or modified
Your command of your geographical
district did not make you Independent
of my orders az your superior officer,
and when you were directed by me to
take troops with you to Mississippi,
your control over the district to which
you were assigned was in no way in
yolved But the statement that troops
were transferred from Tennessee to
Mississippi by orders Of the War De-
partment, when you were directed to
repair to the latter State, gives
but half the faat for, although you
were ordered TO take with you three
thousand good troops, you were told TO
replace them by a greater number, then
on their way to Mississippi, and whom
you were requested to divert TO Ten
nessee, the purpose being to hasten re-
Inducements to PembertOn without
weakening Bragg. This was in defer
ence TO your own opinion that Bragg
could not be safely weakened-nay,
that he ought even to be reinforced at
Pemberton's expense. for you had Just
ordered troops from Pemberton's COM
mand to reinforce Bragg ! differed in
opinion from you, and thought Yieks-
burg far more exposed to danger than
Bragg and was urging reinforcements
to that point both from Carolina and
Virginia, before you were directed TO
assume command in person IN Missis-
sippi.
/ find nothing, then, either in your
dispatch of the 10th June, nor in any /
subsequent communication from you, |
giving a justification for your saying 1
that you had not considered yourself /
commanding in Tennessee since assign
ment here. H. e, in Mississippi Your 1
dispatch, of the 18th inst, il again a 4
substantial repetition Of the same doc |
ument, without a word Of reason TO I
Justify it. You say, +" / consider my 1
assignment to the immediate command /
in Mississippi as giving me new posi-
ton. and limiting my authority to this
have characterized this
as a grave error, and, in view Of all the \
facts, can not otherwise regard IT, ] i
must add that review Of your CORES
pondence shows a constant desire on 1
your part, beginning early in January,
that should change the order placing
Tennessee and Mississippi in one com
mand, under your direction, and a con-
slant indication on my part, whenever
I wrote on the subject, that, in my
judgment, the public service required +
that the two armies should be subject
70 your control
in the conclusion Of this letter the /
President says
In no manner, BY no act, in no
language, either Of myself or Of the
Of War, has your authority
70 draw troops from one portion Of your /
to another been Withdrawn,
restricted, or modified
Now that-Vicksburg has disastrously
fallen, this subject would present no
pressing demand for attention, and its
examination would have been post
poned to a future period, had not your
Of the 5th instant, With its
persistent repetition Of statements
which / had informed you were err
roneous, and without adducing single
fact to sustain them, induced me 70
terminate the matter at once BY a re-
view of all the facts. The original
a. X. - taf.o-ara If the 10Th {