Jackson, June 16, 1863

Jackson, June 16, 1863

Jackson, June 16, 1863.

To his Excellency the President:

Your dispatch of 15th received. I meant to tell the Secretary of War that I considered the order directing me to command here as limiting my authority to this department, especially as that order was accompanied by War Department orders transferring troops from Tennessee to Mississippi. And, whether commanding there or not, that your reply to my application for more troops, that none could be spared, would have made it improper for me to order more troops from Tennessee. Permit me to repeat that an officer having a task like mine, far above his ability,
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cannot, in addition, command other remote departments. No general can command separate armies.

I have not yet been able to procure the means of moving these troops. They are too weak to accomplish much. The reënforcements you mention have joined Grant.

(Signed)

J. E. Johnston.