May 8, 1862 (Thursday): Johnston Miffed With Lee

White House (Once owned by Martha Custis Washington, later W.H. Lee

HEADQUARTERS, Near New Kent Court-House, May 8, 1862.

General R. E. LEE:
GENERAL: I have just received three* letters from your office signed "R. E. Lee, gen'l, by W. H. Taylor, A. A. G.," written in the first person, all dated yesterday.
One of these informs me that certain supposed orders of mine had been countermanded by you or "W. H. Taylor, A. A. G." The matter to which you refer was instructed by me to General Huger. The only order given directly to troops on the south side of James River was intended to carry out one by the President to bring a remnant of Brigadier-General Colston's-brigade to join him. He informed me that his brigade had been ordered to the Peninsula, but that he had left his staff and some other portion of it. He was authorized to order them to join him via Richmond. This was carrying out an order of the Government.
    My authority does not extend beyond the troops immediately around me. I request therefore to be relieved of a merely nominal geographical command. The service will gain thereby the unity of command, which is essential in war.
    I have had in the Peninsula no means of obtaining direct information from the other departments of my command nor has the Government furnished it. Please inform me without delay of the position and number of the troops in the direction of Fredericksburg. I wish to place them so that they may not be cut off by an army landing at West Point. I have heard casually that you have caused the Pamunkey to be obstructed; if so, it is unfortunate that I was not apprised of the fact.
    The enemy occupied a large and dense wood in front of their landing place in the afternoon of the 6th, and was dislodged in very handsome style yesterday by Brigadier-General Whiting with a portion of his division, the brigades of Brigadier-General Hood and Colonel Hampton. These officers gave additional evidence of their high merit. I therefore earnestly repeat my recommendations that Brigadier-General Whiting, who has commanded a division, and Colonel Hampton, who has commanded a brigade, for six months, may be promoted to corresponding rank. The service will gain greatly by these promotions.
    As the department of Richmond is not under my command, I can give no orders in regard to works for its defense. I sent, however, several hundred (edit) from the Peninsula to help in their construction, and desired Captain Tucker, C. S. Navy, to remove the guns at Mulberry Point and Jamestown for the defense of the obstructions to navigation which I am told are in course of construction.  Major Stevens, C. S. Engineers, now in Richmond, might be usefully employed in directing these works and disposing of the guns.
    I shall be found for the present on the New Kent Court-House road. The impossibility of subsisting the army in the neighborhood and the supposed position of an army of ours near Fredericksburg render it impracticable to wait to oppose a landing opposite to West Point.
    We may be supplied with provisions hereafter by the York River Railroad at the station on the northeast side of the Chickahominy.
    Most respectfully, your obedient servant,



    J. E. JOHNSTON,
    General.

*Only one found.

Official Records, Series I., Vol. 11, Part 3, Page 499.

Johnston and Lee had been on good terms before the war, but Lee's association with Jefferson Davis counted as a strike against him.  In addition, Johnston still harbored resentments regarding the relative standing of Confederate generals.  He believed he should have ranked Lee, not the other way around.  Here the resentment is veiled, but thinly.