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This morning I felt constrained to order Blenker's Division to Fremont; and I write this to assure you that I did so with great pain, understanding that you would wish it otherwise. If you
could know the full pressure of the case, I am confident you would justify it---even beyond a mere acknowledgment that the Commander-in-chief, may order what he pleases. Yours very truly
A. LINCOLN
[1] ALS, DLC-McClellan Papers. This letter is misdated March 21, 1862, in Nicolay and Hay (VII, 138). McClellan's Own Story (p. 165) states that ``the President. . . informed me that the pressure was only a political one to swell Fremont's command'' in the Mountain Department in Western Virginia. No more specific details are available, although General Louis Blenker was under considerable political fire at the time in connection with charges of his having illegally assessed the officers and men of his division with ``a monthly tax of $500.'' (New York Tribune, March 21, 22, 1862).