GDG- a good deal dissatisfied

[Bob Huddleston]

It is from vol 6:318 of the Collected Works, online at
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/ 

AL had a low threshold for anyone who insinuated that "our soil" was
anything other than the entire country! 

Take care,

Bob

Judy and Bob Huddleston
10643 Sperry Street
Northglenn, CO  80234-3612
303.451.6376  Huddleston.r at comcast.net

"The rule is perfect: in all matters of opinion our adversaries are insane."

---Mark Twain, 1907

-----Original Message-----
From: gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com [mailto:gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com]
On Behalf Of Tom Ryan
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007 12:25 PM
To: GDG
Subject: RE: GDG- a good deal dissatisfied

Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:


Dennis, please provide the source of Lincoln's message to Halleck.

Tom



-----Original Message-----
From: gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com
[mailto:gettysburg-bounces at arthes.com]On Behalf Of Dennis Lawrence
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007 9:32 AM
To: gettysburg at gdg.org
Subject: GDG- a good deal dissatisfied


Esteemed GDG Member Contributes:


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.


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