January 31, 1862 (Thursday): Jackson Asks to Be Relieved

General Thomas J. Jackson

HEADQUARTERS VALLEY DISTRICT, Winchester, Va., January 31, 1862.

Honorable J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of War:.
   SIR: Your order requiring me to direct General Loring to return with his command to Winchester immediately has been received and promptly complied with..                        
    With such interference in my command I cannot expect to be of much service in the field, and accordingly respectfully request to be ordered to report for duty to the superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, as has been done in the case of other professors. Should this application not be granted, I respectfully request that the President will accept my resignation from the Army..
    I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,




T. J. JACKSON,.
Major-General, P. A. C. S.

Official Records, Series I., Vol. 5, Part 1, Page 1053.

Loring's officers had managed to persuade Richmond their position at Romney was untenable, conditions intolerable, and morale low enough to impact re-enlistment.  Reacting to his authority being challenged, Jackson requested to be relieved of his command and returned to duties at V.M.I.  He also opened channels to Governor Letcher, gaining political backing against interference from the War Department.  Were conditions at Romney as intolerable as suggested by Loring's men?  Medical reports from Hunter McGuire and others indicated many of the troops returning to Winchester from Loring's command at Romney were not likely ill, just disaffected.  Was the position important?  The destruction of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad remained an objective of the Confederates after the Romney Campaign.  Was the position tenable?  An engineer who examined the position thought it untenable with so small a force, but the Union commanders in the area showed no inclination to move against it in winter conditions.  Jackson himself worried about the command being cut off, Johnston suggested removing his command.  It is likely Jackson did leave the troops at Romney in a vulnerable position, but he did have reinforcements at Winchester to cover them should an attack appear imminent.  At the same time, the Romney position was more an irritant to the Union than an actual threat and it is probably not unreasonable to think the controversy had more to do with Jackson's ideas regarding discipline than with military necessity.