emen 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 tha