June 27, 1861 (Thursday): Scott and Patterson On Different Pages

Dam No. 4 on the Potomac (Power Station Building Not Present During War)

                                                                        WASHINGTON, June 27, 1861.

Major-General Patterson, U. S. A.

                        Commanding, &c, Hagerstown, Md.:

I have your telegram of this date about a prisoner, but no acknowledgement of mine of the 25^th, and letter of the same date.  Under the latter I had expected your crossing the river to-day in pursuit of the enemy.  You needed no special authority for sending prisoners to Fort McHenry.

                                                                        WINFIELD SCOTT 

Patterson was no doubt frustrated by Scott's tone.  It was Scott who had withdrawn a portion of Patterson's troops on the assumption Washington would soon be attacked.  This left Patterson without a battery and minus Burnside's well-drilled regiment.  Sending scouts forward, Patterson estimated Johnston's force at around 5,000 men from Falling Waters to Dam No. 4; 4,500 near Shepherdstown, under Jackson, and a reserve of 5,500 men under Johnston near Bunker Hill.  He overestimates Jackson's force by about 2,000 men, but accurately locates them on the Potomac above Shepherdstown.

Official Records, Series I, Vol. 2, Page 727