to my version of its contents will be very hard, indeed, corroborated as it is by so many gentlemen of unquestionable veracity, and such excellent opportunity for information on the point.

I think myself warranted now in asserting upon the credit of the three officers just named, as well as my own, that by the terms of the order, as it was delivered to me, the object of my march was not Pittsburg Landing, as you intended, but the right of the army, resting, when the battle opened in the morning, at a point quite three miles out from the landing, on the road to Purdy.

As a general principle it must be admitted that when you entrusted the order to a proper messenger for delivery to me, your responsibility ceased; but, I turn and ask you, appealing to your experience and justice, how am I held responsible for the execution of an order if it never reached me; or, if it reached me, conveying an idea radically different from that originally given?  Of necessity, I was accountable for the execution of the order, only as it was received, and if it was not received in a form to convey your true design, but was promptly executed, neither of us are responsible for the result.  It was not your mistake, nor was it mine.

    Having established the purport, at least, of the order as it
    came to my hand, the next inquiry is:  “Did I proceed to execute
    it, and how?”

On these heads all the letters on file are applicable.  They show, as I think, that I took measures anticipatory to the order you gave me, personally, in your passage up the river to the battle-field, viz:  to hold myself in readiness to march in any direction; that my brigades were ordered to concentrate at the place most proper and convenient for a prompt execution of the orders, whatever they might be, because it was at the junction of two roads, one leading to Pittsburg Landing, the other to the right of the army.  To one of these points, it may be added, I was sure of being ultimately sent, if the exigencies of the battle required the presence of my command.  They show, that after you parted from me, going up the river, I took measures to forward your messenger to me instantly upon his arrival (see Colonel Ross’ letters), then rode to the place of concentration, and waited impatiently and anxiously the expected instructions; that they came to hand about 12 o’clock (my own remembrance is 11:30 A.M.), and that the officer who brought them, also brought the news that you were driving the enemy all along the line.  (See letters of General Knefler and Colonel Ross.) Up to that time, therefore, I was certainly blameless.

But let me ask you to stop here, and consider the effect on my mind and subsequent movements, of the information, thus reliably obtained, that the battle was won.  What inducement could I have had to march away from or linger on the road to a victory?  Upon the hypothesis that