Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 34.djvu/136

 128 Southern Historical Society Papers.

SOME WAR HISTORY NEVER PUBLISHED.

Famous Conference at Centerville when Question of Invading North was Settled.

MR. DAVIS'S VERSION OF IT. His Letters that have never before been put in Print.

WASHINGTON, May 10, 1906. Editor Times-Dispatch;

Sir, The papers which I send you, although lengthy, I think ought, in justice to President Davis, to be published ; and I think they will be read with interest.

All of the parties named are now dead. President Davis left the letters in my hands to use at my discretion. I think the time has now come when it ought to be given to the public, with the paper, " Council of War at Centreville."

I submit them for publication at your discretion.

Very truly,

MARCUS J. WRIGHT. \

COUNCIL OF WAR AT CENTREVILLE.

/

October i, 1861.*

On the 26th September, 1861, General Joseph E. Johnston ad- dressed a letter to the Secretary of War in regard to the impor- tance of putting this army in condition to assume the offensive, and suggested that his excellency the President, or the Secretary of War, or some one representing them, should at an early day come to the headquarters of the army, then at or near Fairfax Court-House, for the purpose of deciding whether the army could be re-inforced to the extent that the commanding general deemed necessary for an offensive campaign.

His excellency the President arrived at Fairfax Court-House

The exact date does not appear in the records. That above is approxi- mately, if not absolutely, correct.