Colonel William Preston Johnston, The Life of General Albert Sidney Johnston : His Service in the Armies of the United States, the Republic of Texas, and the Confederate States.

My dear sir: A rumor has reached me that has filled me with just alarm for our cause, and which induces me again to write to you, relying on the friendship which I feel for you as my excuse. It is rumored here that you intend to yield to the senseless clamors of fools and pretenders, and to give up the command of the army at the very crisis of our fate. This, if done, will be fatal to our cause, or others will reap what ought to be the just reward of all your noble self-sacrifice for your country. I cannot sit by silent while this is being done. You did what was right; you have in your own hands ample means of self-defense against those who assail you; and, as your friend, I sincerely rejoiced when I heard that Congress had asked for explanations-because this, I knew, would at once break the seal of silence which your own noble sense of justice and mercy to others might have imposed upon you. You left Bowling Green when they would give you no reenforcements, and when it was impossible to defend Fort Donelson except by yielding that position. You had sent all to that point who could be spared from your army in the presence of Buell's army. The event showed that you had sent enough troops to that point — for we had whipped the enemy; and if the generals there commanding chose to surrender, and did so surrender, after victory and to a retreating foe, it is their fault — not yours.

From this disastrous surrender, and not from the defense of Donelson, have resulted the subsequent retreat and concentration of your army here. We are in the right place, at the right time, and the proudest victory of the war awaits