HEADQUARTERS CAMP LONG MEADOW,
June 15, 1861.
General COOPER, Adjutant and Inspector General, Richmond, Va.:
GENERAL: I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 13th.
I know myself to be a careless writer, and will not, therefore, pretend to have expressed clearly the opinions I wished to have put before the Government. I am confident, however, that nothing in my correspondence with my military superiors makes me obnoxious to the charge of desiring that the responsibility of my official acts should be borne by any other person than myself.
I had the honor yesterday to report to the President the removal of the troops from Harper’s Ferry and other matters authorized in your letter just received.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. E. JOHNSTON,
Brigadier-General, C. S. Army.
Sources
The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Series I, Vol. II. With additions and corrections. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1902.
Spirit of '61 