The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-05-11

GOV. Letcher.
| From the Cincinnati Commercial.l
The military circles of the Confed.
eracy at Richmond, in January, 1862,
thought Stonewall Jackson crazy, and
the Secretary of War, without consult
ing him, ordered his subordinate officer,
one-armed Loring, from Romney, III
Hampshire County, to Winchester, Va,
tc supersede him; and Jackson at once
determined to rebuke such intermed-
ding, and forthwith forwarded his res
/ ignation. His celebrated letter, now
deposited in the Virginia State Library,
at Richmond, reads as follows:
/ WINCHESTER, Va, January 81, 1852
| Governor: This morning received an order
| from the Secretary Of War to order Gen.
/ LOring and his command to fall back from
| Romney to this place Immediately. The
/ order was promptly complied with; but rs
/ the order was given without consulting me,
/ and is abandoning to the enemy what has
/ cost much preparation, expense and expo
/ sure to secure, and is in direct conflict with
my military plans, and implies a want OF
confidence in my capacity TO judge when
/ Gen. LOring's troops sh0uld fail back, and
/ is an attempt to control military operations
/ in detail from the Secretary's desk at dis
/ tance, have for the reason set forth in the
7 ACCOMPANYING paper requested to be ordered
/ back to the Institute, and il this is denied
me, then to have my resignation ac-
cepted. l ask as a special favor that
YOU will have me ordered back to the lnsti-
| tute As a simple order like that of the
Secretary's may destroy the entire fruits Of
q campaign, L can not reasonably expect If
my operations are thus to be interfered with
! to be of much service in the field. a sense
of duty brought me into this field, and has
thus far kept me. 1t now appears to be my
duty to return to the Institute, and l hope
that YOU will leave no stone unturned to get
me there. If have ever acquired, through
the blessing of Providence, any influence
over troops, this undoing my work by the
Secretary may greatly diminish that lnt1u-
ence. / regard the recent expedition as a
great success. Before our troops left here,
on the 1st inst, there was not, so far as
have been able TO ascertain. single loyal
man in Morgan County who could remain at
home in safety. In four days that county
was entirely evacuated by the enemy. Rom
ney and the most valuable portion Of Hamp-
shire County was recovered without hiring a
gun, and before we had even entered the
county. l desire to say nothing against the
Secretary Of War. Itake it for granted that
he has done what he believes to be best,
but regard such policy as ruinous. Very
truly your friend,
His Excellency John Letcher, Governor Of
Virginia.
The night after his resignation was
forwarded, one on familiar terms with
him entered into conversation with
him on the subject of his action in the
premises, and thus chronicles, in an
editorial in the Richmond Wing, the re-
suit of the interview:
Jackson, too, possessed this same
modest estimate of himself, and felt the
same anxious solicitude for the welfare
of our suffering people. Never can we
forget an interview held with him the
night that he forwarded his resignation.
When urged to withhold it, upon the
ground that the country could not spare
his services, that his name was like
terror to our enemies, and tower of
strength to our cause, inspiring conf
dence and arousing enthusiasm, even
amongst the doubtful and wavering,
No, no. he said, you greatly over
estim Ite nay capacity for usefulness. A
| better man will soon be sent to fill my
place. The Government has no conf
dence in my capacity, or they would
not thus countermand my orders and
throw away the fruits OF victory that
/ have been secured at such sacrifice OF
the comforts of my noble troops in their
hurried march through the storm of
snow and sleet. No, sir; | must re-
sign, and give place to some one in
whom they have more confidence.
| When urged that perhaps the Govern
ment had been misinformed as to the
facts, he responded: Certainly they
have; but they must be taught not to
act thus hastily without full knOwl-
edge of the facts. / can teach them
this lesson now, by my resignation; and
the country will be no loser by it. If l
fail to do so, an irreparable loss may
hereafter be sustained, when the lesson
might have to be taught by Lee OF
johnston This was nearly his exact
! language, as we well remember it. But
little he knew that when his services
were lost to the cause, or as Gen. Lee
afterward expressed it, that he had lost
his right arm, the whole army would
be paralyzed and the cause itself lost.
But our far-seeing and sagaciOus Gov
ernOr knew the worth of our StOnewall,
and it was through his prompt and en-
ergetic action that the fearless hero was
preserved to his command, and left to
carve his name upon the very summit
of the pinnacle of fame"
This invincible hero possessed in the
highest degree the talents which form
a consummate General, and to these
talents he united the zeal and duty OF a
soldier. From the day he first march
ed from his home, in 1861, to enter the
service, till the day of his death, IN
1868, he never again recrOssed his do
nestle affairs, nor did he during his
whole military life, even for a single
night, sleep outside of his military
camp. Of him it may truly be said, as
was said by the historian Robertson OF
the chevalier Bayard, "Whe, though Sc
much stranger to the arts of a court
that he never rose to the chief com
mand, was always called in times Of
real danger to the post of greatest diff
ficulty and importance" How OF
these occasions he sustained himself
will ever remain in the archives OF th'
country the recorded evidence OF his
invincible prowess, hardihood and
strength. He was in battle without al
equal or superior. To the valor o.
Cesar he united the will and judgmen
of Cromwell, and amidst the conflict o
legions hewas self-poised, and his blow.
were aimed with decision, and wer
rapid, and fell like the thunderbOlts o
Hannibal upon his foes. And yet, bu
for the action of Governor Letcher, hi
career would have closed just as it ha'
fully opened. There was never anothe
victory on the side he fOughtin Virgins
after his death, nor before, where NJ
was not present, and the chiefest actor
- d. S. H.
Newport, April 29, 1876.