To Don C.Buell1Jump to section
Brig. Gen. Buell Washington, January 6th, 1862.
My dear Sir Your despatch of yesterday has been received, and it disappoints and distresses me. I have shown it to Gen. McClellan, who says he will write you to-day. I am not competent to criticise your views; and therefore what I offer is merely in justification of myself. Of the two, I would rather have a point on the Railroad south of Cumberland Gap, than Nashville, first, because it cuts a great artery of the enemies' communication, which Nashville does not, and secondly because it is in the midst of loyal people, who would rally around it, while Nashville is not. Again, I cannot see why the movement on East Tennessee would not be a diversion in your favor, rather than a disadvantage, assuming that a movement towards Nashville is the main object.
But my distress is that our friends in East Tennessee are being hanged and driven to despair, and even now I fear, are thinking of taking rebel arms for the sake of personal protection. In this we lose the most valuable stake we have in the South. My despatch, to which yours is an answer, was sent with the knowledge of Senator Johnson and Representative Maynard of East Tennessee, and they will be upon me to know the answer, which I cannot safely show them. They would despair---possibly resign to go and save their families somehow, or die with them.
I do not intend this to be an order in any sense, but merely, as intimated before, to show you the grounds of my anxiety. Yours very Truly A. LINCOLN
Annotation
[1] LS, ORB; ADfS, DLC-RTL. See Lincoln to Buell, January 4, supra. Mc-Clellan wrote Buell, January 6, ``My own general plans . . . make the speedy occupation of East Tennessee . . .of absolute necessity . . .Interesting as Nashville may be to the Louisville interests, it strikes me that its possession is of very secondary importance . . .'' (OR, I, VII, 531).