Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 6 [Dec. 13, 1862-Nov. 3, 1863].

To Robert H. Milroy1Jump to section

PRIVATE2Jump to section
Major General Milroy Executive Mansion,
My dear Sir: Washington, June 29. 1863.

Your letters to Mr. Blair3Jump to section and to myself, are handed to me by him. I have never doubted your courage and devotion to the cause. But you have just lost a Division, and prima facie the fault is upon you; and while that remains unchanged, for me to put you in command again, is to justly subject me to the charge of having put you there on purpose to have you lose another. If I knew facts sufficient to satisfy me that you were not in fault, or error, the case would be different. But the facts I do know, while they are not at all conclusive, and I hope they may never prove so, tend the other way.

First, I have scarcely seen anything from you at any time, that did not contain imputations against your superiors, and a chafing against acting the part they had assigned you. You have constantly urged the idea that you were persecuted because you did not come from West-Point, and you repeat it in these letters. This, my dear general, is I fear, the rock on which you have split.

In the Winchester case, you were under General Schenck, and he under Gen. Halleck. I know by Gen. Hallecks order-book, that he, on the 11th. of June advised Gen. Schenck to call you in from Winchester to Harper's Ferry; and I have been told, but do not know, that Gen. Schenck gave you the order accordingly, on the same day---and I have been told, but do not know, that on receiving it, instead of obeying it, you sent by mail a written protest against obeying it, which did not reach him until you were actually beleagered at Winchester. I say I do not know this. You hate West-Point generally, and General Halleck particularly; but I do know that it is not his fault that you were at Winchester on the 13th. 14th. and morning of the 15th.---the days of your disaster. If Gen. Schenck gave the order on the 11th. as Gen. Halleck advised, it was an easy matter for you to have been off at least on the 12th. The case is inevitably between Gen. Schenck & you. Neither Gen. Halleck, nor any one else, so far as I know, required you to stay and fight 60,000, with 6,000, as you insinuate. I know Gen. Halleck, through Gen. Schenck required you to get away, & that in abundant time for you to have done it. Gen. Schenck is not a West-Pointer & has no prejudice against you on that score.

Yours very truly A. Lincoln

Annotation

[1]   ALS, DLC; LS copy, DLC-RTL. The original autograph letter has Milroy's endorsement at the end of the letter as follows: ``Old Abe is mistaken.

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Schenck never gave me Hallocks said order. But mearly ordered me to send off (back) all surpluss stores &c. but in the mean time to hold my position till further orders. I sent off all surpluss stores held my position, but got no further orders because I was surrounded & telegraf wires cut.''

On June 28 Milroy wrote John P. Usher, from Baltimore, ``I ask you as a friend in Gods name, to go with it [enclosed letter] to the President at once, & try to procure my release from the grasp of an incompetent unprincipled tyrant.'' The letter to Lincoln is in part as follows: ``I had no orders to evacuate Winchester, I was told to get ready. . . . Myself and brother officers felt sure that Hooker would occupy the whole of Lee's army, & I felt entirely able for all the Rebel forces in the Valley. . . . And the salvation of the Baltimore & Ohio Rail road depending wholly upon our holding . . . and mistaking the advance of Lee's Army by way of Front Royal, for a feint by a few hundred cavalry . . . I held on at Winchester until I was surrounded by a force of about 60,000. . . .

``I love my country & the Union dearer than life, and God knows that every faculty of my soul & body has been devoted to its salvation. . . . I have never asked a leave of absence & have not been absent from my command a single day or night . . . until two days ago, I was suspended from command and day or night . . . until two days ago, I was suspended from command and placed in arrest by order of General Halleck, like a common fellon.

``I may have erred in judgment in remaining too long at Winchester . . . but without disobeying any orders or being guilty of any crime, I am deprived of command & made a prisoner. . . . Halleck hates me without cause . . . with the blind unreasoning hatred of an Indian & I can ask or expect nothing but injustice from him, and I respectfully ask you sir, as a friend of our country, to suspend my arrest if only temporarily, during the present terrible crisis, and give me something to do, if it is only the command of a company in active service. If permitted I would freely resign my present commission, & take any command, or go into the ranks as a private, rather than remain idle at this critical period.

``After the crisis is passed, & my country is saved, Halleck may have me tried to his hearts content and hang me if he can.'' (DLC-RTL).

The records show that on June 11, Schenck relayed to Lieutenant Colonel Donn Piatt from Martinsburg, Halleck's instructions to withdraw to Harper's Ferry, and that Piatt's telegram relaying the order was received by Milroy at midnight on the same day. Milroy thereupon telegraphed Schenck that he had the place well protected and hated to give it up, and Schenck replied at 1 A.M. on June 12, ``Lieutenant-Colonel Piatt . . . misunderstood me, and somewhat exceeded his instructions. You will make all the required preparations for withdrawing, but hold your position in the meantime. Be ready for movement, but await further orders. . . .'' (OR, I, XXVII, II, 49-50).

On the night of June 12, Milroy telegraphed Schenck of the approach of the enemy and asked whether to abandon his position or not. Schenck's reply ordering Milroy to fall back to Harper's Ferry was not received because the wires had been cut by the enemy. (Ibid., 50-52).

[2]   In John Hay's autograph on the original.

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[3]   The autograph letter has ``Blair'' corrected to ``Usher'' by Milroy.

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