To Joseph Hooker1Jump to section
Major General Hooker. June 16. 1863. [10 P.M.]
To remove all misunderstanding, I now place you in the strict military relation to Gen. Halleck, of a commander of one of the armies, to the General-in-Chief of all the armies. I have not intended differently; but as it seems to be differently understood, I shall direct him to give you orders, and you to obey them.
A. LINCOLN
Annotation
[1] ALS, NN. The time of this telegram is taken from the Official Records (I, XXVII, I, 47). Lincoln had received at 9:50 the following telegram from Hooker:
``My orders are out to march at 3 o'clock to-morrow morning. It will be likely to be one of vigor and power. I am prepared to move without communications with any place for ten days. I hope to reach my objective point before the arrival of Hill's corps, should it be moving in that direction. If I do not know this fact, I will shortly, but of information to the north of the Potomac I really have nothing.
``I wish that it might be made the duty of some person in the telegraph office in Washington to keep me informed of the enemy's movements in Maryland.'' (Ibid.).
Throughout the day the exchange of telegrams between Hooker and Halleck up to this time had indicated beyond question that Hooker and Halleck did not understand either the military situation or their respective relations to each other.