Official Records of the Rebellion

[p.76]

On the 1st of August I received the following dispatches:

WASHINGTON, July 30, 1862—8 p. m.

A dispatch just received from General Pope says that deserters report that the enemy is moving south of James River and that the force in Richmond is very small. I suggest he be pressed in that direction, so as to ascertain the facts of the case.

H. W. HALLECK,
Major- General.

Maj. Gen. GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN.

WASHINGTON, July 30, 1862—8 p. m.

In order to enable you to move in any direction, it is necessary to relieve you of your [p.77] sick. The Surgeon-General has therefore been directed to make arrangements for them at other places, and the Quartermaster-General to provide transportation. I hope you will send them away as quickly as possible, and advise me of their removal.

H. W. HALLECK,
Major- General.

Maj. Gen. GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN.

It is clear that the General-in-Chief attached some weight to the report received from General Pope, and I was justified in supposing that the order in regard to the removing the sick contemplated an offensive movement rather than a retreat, as I had no other data than the telegrams just given from which to form an opinion as to the intentions of the Government.

The following telegram strengthened me in that belief:

WASHINGTON, July 31, 1862—10 a. m.

General Pope again telegraphs that the enemy is reported to be evacuating Richmond and falling back on Danville and Lynchburg.

H. W. HALLECK,
Major-General.

Maj. Gen. GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN.

In occupying Coggins’ Point, as already described, I was influenced by the necessity of possessing a secure débouché on the south of the James, in order to enable me to move on the communications of Richmond in that direction as well as to prevent a repetition of midnight cannonades.