This order had been issued without reference to General Johnston, Jackson’s immediate superior, and so marked a departure from ordinary procedure could not possibly be construed except as a severe reflection on Jackson’s judgment.  Nor could it have other than a most fatal effect on the discipline of the Valley troops.  It had been brought about by most discreditable means.  Loring’s officers had sat in judgment on their commander.  Those who had been granted leave at the close of the expedition had repaired to Richmond, and had filled the ears of the Government and the columns of the newspapers with complaints.  Those who remained at Romney formulated their grievance in an official remonstrance, which Loring was indiscreet enough to approve and forward.  A council of subordinate officers had the effrontery to record their opinion that “Romney was a place of no strategical importance,” and to suggest that the division might be “maintained much more comfortably, at much less expense, and with every military advantage, at almost any other place."* (* Ibid pages 1046 to 1048.)

Discomfort was the burden of their complaint.  They had been serving continuously for eight months.  Their present position imposed upon them even greater vigilance and more constant exertion than had hitherto been demanded of them, and their one thought was to escape from a situation which they characterised as “one of the most disagreeable and unfavourable that could well be imagined.”  Only a single pertinent argument was brought forward.  The Confederate soldiers had enlisted only for twelve months, and the Government was about to ask them to volunteer for the duration of the war.  It was urged by Loring’s officers that with the present prospect before them there was much doubt that a single man of the division would re-enlist.  “With some regard for its comfort,” added the general, “a large portion, if not the whole, may be prevailed upon to do so.”

It does not seem to have occurred to these officers that soldiers in the near vicinity of the enemy, wherever they may be placed, must always be subject to privations, and that at any other point of the Confederate frontier—­at Winchester with Jackson, at Leesburg with Hill, or at Centreville with Johnston—­their troops would be exposed to the same risks and the same discomforts as at Romney.  That the occupation of a dangerous outpost is in itself an honour never entered their minds; and it would have been more honest, instead of reviling the climate and the country, had they frankly declared that they had had enough for the present of active service, and had no mind to make further sacrifices in the cause for which they had taken arms.

January 31.

With the Secretary’s order Jackson at once complied.  Loring was recalled to Winchester, but before his command arrived Jackson’s resignation had gone in.

His letter, forwarded through Johnston, ran as follows: