209
to the return of May 21st, 1862, to show the effective strength of that armyMay 31st, viz., 73,928, including the correction of the number in Magruder ’sdivision.
Referring to our withdrawal from the north side of the Chickahominy tothe vicinity of Richmond , Mr. Davis says:
“ Remembering a remark of General Johnston’s that the Spaniards were the only people whonow undertook to hold fortified towns, I had written to him that he knew the defense of Rich-mond must be made at a distance from it ” [II., 120].
Mr. Davis is mistaken. No such letter was sent to me then. We commu-nicated with each other only orally, excepting a note he sent me to point outthat I had been absent from a skir-mish the day before. He knew thatthe fact that the enemy was thenable to approach Richmond eitherfrom York River or by the Jamescompelled me to prepare for eitherevent, by placing the army near thecity. A short time before, he wrote:
“ To you it is needless to say thatthe defense must be made outside ofthe city.” His next sentence, ap-proving the course I was pursuing,has been quoted in connection withwhat the President said of an “incon-clusive ” conversation with me.
Mr. Davis continues, a little far-ther down [II., 120]:
“ It bad not occurred to me that he [John-ston] meditated a retreat which would uncoverthe capital, nor was it ever suspected, until, in reading General Hood’s book, published in 1880,the evidence was found that General Johnston, when retreating from Yorktown, told his volun-teer aide, Mr. McFarland, that ‘ he [Johnston] expected or intended to give up Richmond .’ ”
This story of Mr. McFarland is incredible. He, a very rich, fat old man,could not have been an aide-de-camp. As I did not know him at all until fouryears later, and then barely, he could not have been my aide-de-camp. Andlastly, I had no volunteer aide. Besides, the Confederate President had abun-dant evidence that I had no such expectation, in the fact that, so far from giv-ing up Richmond , I stood between it and the Federal army for three weeks,until I was disabled by desperate wounds received in its defense. Under suchcircumstances his accusation is, to say the least, very discreditable. E. J.Harvie, late Colonel and Assistant Inspector-General, C. S. A., now in the“War Records” Office, Washington, in answer to my question, “Had I evera volunteer aide-de-camp named McFarland, or any volunteer aide-de-campafter leaving Manassas, while serving in Virginia ? ” wrote me, under date ofJanuary 28th, 1885, as follows: “ To my knowledge, you certainly had not.