GDG- a good deal dissatisfied

[Dennis Lawrence]

To Henry W. Halleck [1]
Soldiers' Home,
[Washington,] July 6, 1863--- 7 p.m.

Major-General Halleck: I left the telegraph office a good deal 
dissatisfied. You know I did not like the phrase, in Orders, No. 68, I 
believe, ``Drive the invaders from our soil.'' Since that, I see a dispatch 
from General French, saying the enemy is crossing his wounded over the 
river in flats, without saying why he does not stop it, or even intimating 
a thought that it ought to be stopped. Still later, another dispatch from 
General Pleasonton, by direction of General Meade, to General French, 
stating that the main army is halted because it is believed the rebels are 
concentrating ``on the road toward Hagerstown, beyond Fairfield,'' and is 
not to move until it is ascertained that the rebels intend to evacuate 
Cumberland Valley.

These things all appear to me to be connected with a purpose to cover 
Baltimore and Washington, and to get the enemy across the river again 
without a further collision, and they do not appear connected with a 
purpose to prevent his crossing and to destroy him. I do fear the former 
purpose is acted upon and the latter is rejected.

If you are satisfied the latter purpose is entertained and is judiciously 
pursued, I am content. If you are not so satisfied, please look to it. 
Yours, truly, A. LINCOLN.

Annotation

[1]   ALS, IHi. Major General George G. Meade's General Orders No. 68, July 
4, 1863, after thanking his army for defeating ``an enemy, superior in 
numbers, and flushed with the pride of a successful invasion,'' continued 
as follows: ``Our task is not yet accomplished, and the commanding general 
looks to the army for greater efforts to drive from our soil every vestige 
of the presence of the invader. . . .'' General Alfred Pleasonton 
telegraphed General William H. French at 11 A.M. on July 6, ``Major-General 
Meade desires me to say, in consequence of a large body of the enemy being 
concentrated on the road toward Hagerstown, beyond Fairfield, he has 
suspended his operations for the present. Indications go to show that he 
intends evacuating the Cumberland Valley, but it is not yet positively 
ascertained. Until so ascertained, the general does not feel justified in 
leaving here and moving down toward you.''

``[The enemy is very much crippled. The general is under no apprehension of 
their attacking you, provided your cavalry keep a good lookout, and are 
kept well out to your front and flanks.]'' (OR, I, XXVII, III, 559). The 
brackets are in the source, and a footnote explains: ``The clause in 
brackets does not appear in the telegram as received 4 p.m. at the War 
Department.'' Had Lincoln seen the omitted paragraph, he would probably 
have been even more displeased at Meade's obvious intent to let Lee withdraw.