The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies

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U.S. Government Printing Office, 1884 - Confederate States of America

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Page 15 - I beg to assure you that I have never written you or spoken to you in greater kindness of feeling than now, nor with a fuller purpose to sustain you, so far as, in my most anxious judgment, I consistently can. But you must act.
Page 74 - Military power should not be allowed to interfere with the relations of servitude, either by supporting or impairing the authority of the master, except for repressing disorder, as in other cases.
Page 73 - War; as such it should be regarded, and it should be conducted upon the highest principles known to Christian civilization. It should not be a War looking to the subjugation of the people of any State, in any event. It should not be at all a war upon population, but against armed forces and political organizations. Neither Confiscation of property, political executions of persons, territorial organizations of States, or forcible Abolition of Slavery, should be contemplated for a moment.
Page 81 - All points of secondary importance elsewhere should be abandoned, and every available man brought here — a decided victory here, and the military strength of the rebellion is crushed — it matters not what partial reverses we may meet with elsewhere. Here is the true defence of Washington ; it is here, on the banks of the James, that the fate of the Union should be decided.
Page 15 - My explicit order that Washington should, by the judgment of all the commanders of corps, be left entirely secure, had been neglected. It was precisely this that drove me to detain McDowell.
Page 74 - Unless the principles governing the future conduct of our struggle shall be made known and approved, the effort to obtain requisite forces will be almost hopeless. A declaration of radical views, especially upon slavery, will rapidly disintegrate our present armies.
Page 83 - It is by no means certain that the reduction of these fortifications would not require considerable time — perhaps as much as those at Yorktown. " This delay might not only be fatal to the health of your army, but in the mean time...
Page 51 - I will do all that a general can do with the splendid army I have the honor to command, and, if it is destroyed by overwhelming numbers, can at least die with it and share its fate. But if the result of the action which will probably occur to-morrow, or within a short time, is a disaster, the responsibility cannot be thrown on my shoulders; it must rest where it belongs.
Page 68 - Towards the northwest the plateau falls off more abruptly into a ravine which extends to James river. From the position of the enemy his most obvious...
Page 27 - At your earnest call for reinforcements, he is sent forward to co-operate in the reduction of Richmond, but charged, in attempting this, not to uncover the city of Washington, and you will give no order, either before or after your junction, which can put him out of position to cover this city.

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