The life and public services of Abraham Lincoln ... together with his state papers, including his speeches, addresses, messages, letters, and proclamations, and the closing scenes connected with his life and death. By Henry J. Raymond. To which are added anecdotes and personal reminiscences of President Lincoln, by Frank B. Carpenter.

STATE PAPERS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

299

send off unless he knew what was to be done with the
army "-and that if he was to be " kept longer in ignorance of what was to be effected, he could not be expected
to accomplish the object in view." In reply, General
Halleck informed him that his army was to be "withdrawn from the Peninsula to Aquia Creek," but that the
withdrawal should be concealed even from his own officers. General McClellan, on the 4th, wrote a long protest
against this movement-saying it mattered not what partial reverses might be sustained elsewhere-there was the
"true defence of Washington," and he asked that the
order might be rescinded. To this letter, after again
urging General McClellan on the 4th to hasten the removal
of the sick, which he was "expected to have done without waiting to know what were or would be the intentions
of the Government respecting future movements," General Halleck on the 6th addressed him as follows:
HEAD-QUARTVrs OK TlM ARMY, 1
WASHINGTON, August 6, 1862.
GENERAL:-Your telegram of yesterday was received this morning, and
I immediately telegraphed a brief reply, promising to write you more
fully by mail.
You, General, certainly could not have been more pained at receiving
my order than I was at the necessity of issuing it. I was advised by
high officers, in whose judgment I had great confidence, to make the
order immediately on my arrival here, but I determined not to do so
until I could learn your wishes from a personal interview. And even
after that interview I tried every means in my power to avoid withdrawing your army, and delayed my decision as long as I dared to delay it.
I assure you, General, it was not a hasty and inconsiderate act, but
one that caused me more anxious thoughts than any other of my life.
But after full and mature consideration of all the pros and cons, I was
reluctantly forced to the conclusion that the order must be issued-there
was to my mind no alternative.
Allow me to allude to a few of the facts in the case.
You and your officers at our interview estimated the enemy's forces in
and around Richmond at two hundred thousand men. Since then, you
and others report that they have received and are receiving large
re-enforcements from the South. General Pope's army, covering Washington, is only about forty thousand. Your effective force is only about
ninety thousand. You are thirty miles from Richmond, and General
Pope eighty or ninety, with the enemy directly between you, ready to fall