The Congress, in its discretion, ordered the publication of the report,
except that part to which the endorsement referred, thereby judiciously
suppressing both the endorsement and the portion of the report to which
it related. In this case, and _every other_ official report ever
submitted to me, I made neither alteration nor erasure.
That portion of the report which was suppressed by the Congress has,
since the war, found its way into the press, but the endorsement which
belonged to it has not been published. As part of the history of the
time, I will here present both in their proper connection:
"General S. Cooper, _Adjutant and Inspector-General, Richmond
Virginia._
"Before entering upon a narration of the general military
operations in the presence of the enemy on July 21st, I
propose--I hope not unreasonably--first to recite certain events
which belong to the strategy of the campaign, and consequently
form an essential part of the history of the battle.
"Having become satisfied that the advance of the enemy with a
decidedly superior force, both as to numbers and war equipage,
to attack or turn my position in this quarter was immediately
impending, I dispatched, on July 13th, one of my staff, Colonel
James Chesnut, of South Carolina, to submit for the
consideration of the President a plan of operations
substantially as follows:
"I proposed that General Johnston should unite, as soon as
possible, the bulk of the Army of the Shenandoah with that of
the Potomac, then under my command, leaving only sufficient
force to garrison his strong works at Winchester, and to guard
the five defensive passes of the Blue Ridge, and thus hold
Patterson in check.
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