...recorded. The events which followed, however, failed to support the general. Ian received orders to "cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy or...Your army must move now while the roads are good." 25 A week later, when nothing had developed, Lincoln sat down and wrote one of his "on bended knees"...

...went to see McClellan himself, and soon after he told Halleck to telegraph Little Mac and order him to "cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy or drive him south" and to do so immediately. Halleck did so but McClellan maddeningly did not move and instead asked for...

...would not misconstrue their conversations, Lincoln had Halleck telegraph him the following Monday that "the President directs that you cross the Potomac...Your army must move now while the roads are good." Weeks went by, however, and McClellan found all manner of excuses for inaction — lack of supplies,...

...not move forward, move rapidly and effectively."11 On October 6, the president directed McClellan to "cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy or...Your army must move now while the roads are good." McClellan resisted, however, the president's orders. He held the army in Maryland until the final week...

...the spell of Secretary Stanton and the radicals dominating Congress. Halleck telegraphed McClellan: "The President directs that you cross the Potomac...Your army must move now while the roads are good." McClellan delayed, demanding more horses, more mules, more guns, more of almost everything. Secretary...

...McClellan did not advance. Even when delivered a preemptory order from President Lincoln on October 6 to "cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy or drive him south," McClellan delayed. General Lee noticed this odd lack of initiative. "General McClellan's army is apparently...

...and two days later he received tfce following telegram . " WASHINGTON, DC, October 6c7i, 1862. 44 1 am instructed to telegraph you as follows: The President...the enemy, or drive him south. Your army must move DOW, while the roads are good. If you cross the river between the enemy and Washington, and cover the...

...Washington, General Halleck, on the 6th of October, sent an explicit order to General McClellan : " The President directs that you cross the Potomac and...Your army must move now while the roads are good." The President, it was added, advised the passage of the river below Harper's Ferry, by which an interior...

...States Volunteers. On October (!, 18(>2, General McClellan received an order from President Lincoln to "cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy or drive him south." McClellan determined upon the Shenandoah Valley as the scene of his immediate operations. To this end...

...purpose of his visit. He sent special instructions through Stanton and Halleck that McClellan was to "cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy or drive him south." He should move "while the roads are good," keeping (as always) between the enemy and the capital. Only...