Alfred Roman, The military operations of General Beauregard in the war between the states, 1861 to 1865

[84] of the enemy on land, in the confusion which, it was hoped, would result from the attack with torpedoes.

I must respectfully ask your attention to the paper herewith, marked “A,” exhibiting the force, of all arms, that will be left me after the execution of your orders, and that in the Department this time last year.

You will perceive that I shall be left with 12,664 men, of all arms less than at the same period last year, when the force of the enemy was less threatening in his positions than now; that my infantry force for the same duty was 6462, leaving the lines on James Island virtually without infantry support, and open to seizure, and resulting in the inevitable fall of Charleston.

In conclusion, I must observe that the troops in the works cannot be withdrawn from their guns and concentrated for defence of any threatened point. They are already at a minimum force for the proper service of the batteries, and to withdraw them, here or at Savannah, involves the surrender of the work so abandoned, and, in ultimate effect, the failure of the whole defence.

Finally, it may as well be considered that the enemy will be speedily acquainted with the extent of these reductions, and that he will act accordingly.

Respectfully, your obedient servant,

G. T. Beauregard, Genl. Comdg.

The War Department was thus fortunately checked in the suicidal course it was then about to follow; and the reduced force under General Beauregard, so evidently inadequate in view of the menacing attitude of the enemy at and around Charleston, was left to him.

General Beauregard's incessant labors did not prevent him from turning his attention to the military operations in other parts of the Confederacy, and notably in the West, where he thought that General Joseph E. Johnston, then at Jackson, Mississippi, by concentrating his own and other forces not actively engaged at the time, could inaugurate a vigorous and successful campaign into Tennessee and Kentucky. His views to that effect are contained in the following letter, which will, doubtless, be read with interest. The strategy preferred by the President was to send General Lee on his ruinous invasion of Pennsylvania:¹

Headquarters, Department S. C. And Fla., Charleston, S. C., May 15th, 1863.
General Jos. E. Johnston, Comdg., etc., Jackson, Miss.:

Dear General,—I am sure you will appreciate the motives which induce me to offer for your consideration the following general views on the coming