| Camp at McGirt's Creek, Fla. |
| March 6, 1864 -- 6 a. m.
|
| |
| General S. Cooper |
| Richmond, Va. |
| |
| ***** |
| Had the gap between Lawton and Live Oak
been filled by a line of railroad connecting those two points, as
urged by me more than a year ago, the re-enforcements I was sending
at the very moment I was being asked to send 10,000 men to General
Johnston would have arrived in time to co-operate in the action at
Ocean Pond, and the enemy would at once have been driven out of
Florida. But as it was, two entire days were lost in the passage
through the gap of a portion of the re-enforcements, and we had to
fight the enemy one to two. Our victory, it is true, was complete,
but as we were not in sufficient force of good troops to pursue the
enemy vigorously, he had time to fall back on Jacksonville, where he
has been at work ever since, extending his intrenchments, and, with
the assistance of his gun-boats, rendering the place inaccessible to
such forces as we can dispose of. If, however, the Department be of
opinion that under such circumstances, and with the means at hand,
another officer can expel the enemy from Florida
by prompt and decided measures, I will be most happy to surrender
the command to him. |
| G. T. Beauregard |
|