Annotation
[1] ADfS, DLC-RTL. On October 16, 8:30 A.M., McClellan acknowledged Lincoln's letter ``just received from Colonel [Delavan D.] Perkins. . . . I go to the front. . . . This may delay my reply.'' (OR, I, XIX, I, 16). On October 17, McClellan replied as follows:
``Your letter of the 13th . . . and reached me yesterday morning by the hands of Colonel Perkins.
``I had sent out strong reconnaissances . . . and as sharp artillery fire was heard, I felt it incumbent to go to the front. I did not leave Charlestown until dark, so that I have been unable to give Your Excellency's letter that full and respectful consideration which it merits at my hands.
``I do not wish to detain Colonel Perkins beyond this morning's train; I therefore think it best to send him back with this simple acknowledgment of the receipt of Your Excellency's letter. . . . I promise you that I will give to your views the fullest and most unprejudiced consideration, and that it is my intention to advance the moment my men are shod and my cavalry are sufficiently renovated to be available. . . .'' (Ibid.).
No further reply has been found, but McClellan continued to delay and sought changes in the order of October 6 (see note, Lincoln to McClellan, October 7, supra). On October 21, Halleck telegraphed McClellan that the president ``directs me to say that he has no change to make in his order of the 6th instant. If you have not been and are not now in condition to obey it, you will be able to show such want of ability. The President does not expect impossibilities, but he is very anxious that all this good weather should not be wasted in inactivity. Telegraph when you will move, and on what lines you propose to march.'' (OR, I, XIX, I, 81).