To Ambrose E. Burnside1Jump to section
Knoxville, Tenn. Sep. 27 1863
Your despatch just received. My order to you meant simply that you should save Rosecrans from being crushed out, believing if he lost his position, you could not hold East Tennessee in any event; and that if he held his position, East Tennessee was substantially safe in any event. This despatch is in no sense an order. Gen. Halleck will answer you fully. A. LINCOLN
Annotation
[1] ALS, RPB. Burnside's telegram to Lincoln was received at 6 P.M.: ``I have just telegraphed General Halleck very fully, asking an explanation of your order, and anxiously await a reply.'' (OR, I, XXX, III, 904).
His despatch to Halleck received at 6:30 P.M. is as follows:
``Does the President's order requiring me to move with my force intend the evacuation of that portion of East Tennessee held by me, or do you desire sufficient force left here to hold the line of the railroad? . . . .
``You . . . speak of my delay. I have made no delay. I was ordered to move into East Tennessee. . . . I was then ordered to hold the railroad to the crossing of the Holston River, and the gaps of the mountains leading into North Carolina, and to recruit all the men possible. . . . I made dispositions to carry out these orders which necessarily scattered my forces. . . . Had we commenced moving to General Rosecrans by detail down the north side of the Tennessee River, as we were directed, the cavalry . . . of the enemy would have destroyed our trains and prevented any possibility of an effective junction with Rosecrans. . . . If I can be allowed to move down the south side of the