The junction was made, the victory was won; but the
consequences that were predicted did not result. The reasons why
no such consequences could result are given in the closing
passages of the reports of both the commanding generals, and the
responsibility can not be transferred to the Government at
Richmond, which certainly would have united in any feasible plan
to accomplish such desirable results.
"If the plan of campaign mentioned in the report had been
presented in a written communication, and in sufficient detail
to permit proper investigation, it must have been pronounced to
be impossible at that time, and its proposal could only have
been accounted for by the want of information of the forces and
positions of the armies in the field. The facts that rendered it
impossible are the following:
"1. It was based, as related from memory by Colonel Chesnut, on
the supposition of drawing a force of about twenty-five thousand
men from the command of General Johnston. The letters of General
Johnston show his effective force to have been only eleven
thousand, with an enemy thirty thousand strong in his front,
ready to take possession of the Valley of Virginia on his
withdrawal.
"2. It proposed to continue operations by effecting a junction
of a part of the victorious forces with the army of General
Garnett in Western Virginia.
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