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| Statue of Joseph Johnston in Dalton, Georgia |
DALTON, December 29, 1863.
To the PRESIDENT:
I have just received a dispatch from General Longstreet asking for my cavalry to help him drive the enemy out of East Tennessee, because he cannot march his infantry for want of shoes. I suppose, therefore, that if shoes were supplied, he could get possession of that country. He took with him more than half the cavalry of this command.
J. E. JOHNSTON.
Official Records, Series I., Vol. 31, Part 3, Page 879.
Johnston was a confidant of Longstreet, so it is not likely he intended sarcasm in his comments to President Davis. But, like all commanders, he was reluctant to give up any of his resources. Longstreet had a problem common to both armies, the lack of shoes.
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