r my injury, and in that view their notice
might be postponed to a more convenient season, they have acquired
importance from the fact that they have served to create distrust,
to excite disappointment, and must embarrass the administration in
its further efforts to re-enforce the armies of the Potomac, and
generally to provide for the public defense.

For these public considerations, I call upon you as the commanding
general, and as a party to all the conferences held by me on the
21st and 22d of July, to say whether I obstructed the pursuit of
the enemy after the victory at Manassas, or have ever objected to
an advance or other active operation which it was feasible for the
army to undertake?

Very respectfully yours, etc.,

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

HEADQUARTERS, CENTREVILLE, November 10, 1861.

_To His Excellency, the President:_

SIR: I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 3d instant,
in which you call upon me, as the "Commanding General, and as a
party to all the conferences held by you on the 21st and 22d of
July, to say:

"Whether I obstructed the pursuit after the battle of Manassas.

"Or have ever objected to an advance, or other active operations
which it was feasible for the army to undertake."

To the first question I reply: No. The pursuit was "obstructed" by
the enemy's troops at Centreville, as I have stated in my official
report. In that report I have also said why no advance was made
upon the enemy's capital (for reasons) as follows:

The apparent freshness of the United States troops at Centreville,
which checked our pursuit; the strong forces occupying the works
near Georgetown, Arlington and Alexandria; the certainty, too, that
General Patterson, if needed, would reach Washington with his army
of more than 30,000, sooner than we could; and the condition and
inadequate means of the army in ammunition, provision and
transportation, prevented any serious thoughts of advancing against
the Capital.

To the second question, I reply, that it has never been feasible
for the army to advance further than it has done--to the line of
Fairfax Courthouse, with its advanced posts at Upton's, Munson's
and Mason's Hills. After a conference at Fairfax Courthouse with
the three senior General officers, you announced it to be
impracticable to