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Beauregard had not yet seen the
commanding officer of the post—
General Hoke—who, expecting a renewed attack, was then near his lines; nor had he even assumed command of our forces.
The fact is that, as late as 8 o'clock A. M., on the 14th, Drury's Bluff had not been made a part of
General Beauregard's Department, as appears from the following telegram forwarded to him on that day:
Your command is extended so as to include all that portion of
Virginia lying south of the
James River, including Drury's Bluff and its defences.
Order will be sent by courier.
The order was sent, and with it a communication from
General Bragg, of the same date, confirming the despatch.
1 President Davis, therefore, might, with equal logic, have taken
General Beauregard to task for not having prevented
Butler's landing at
City Point and Bermuda Hundreds.
Mr. Davis goes on as follows:
‘We then passed to the consideration of the operations to be undertaken against Butler, who had already advanced from his base at Bermuda Hundreds.
I offered, for the purpose of attacking Butler, to send Major-General Ransom with the field force he had for the protection of Richmond.’
This is an indirect acknowledgment that the object of his visit on the 14th was to listen to
General Beauregard's plan of operations: first, against
Butler, and afterwards, in conjunction with
General Lee, against
Grant; for that was the only plan then submitted and under consideration, and it included the sending of
Ransom's force from
Richmond to Drury's Bluff.
Mr. Davis, therefore, is in error when he says that he ‘offered’
Ransom's division.
He made no such offer, but merely consented—apparently with reluctance—to the removal of that force, which he ordered down twenty-four hours later than
General Beauregard had wished him to do, and after positively refusing the 10,000 men from
Lee's army, which
General Beauregard, in his plan and orally during that interview, had entreated him to send, in order that he might carry out his plans.
Mr. Davis, who fails to give the details of the plan, says that
