Before it arrived they had
performed the brilliant exploits of capturing Fort Henry and Fort
Donelson.
On January 31 the President issued "Special War Order No. 1," directing
the army of the Potomac to seize and occupy "a point upon the railroad
southwestward of what is known as Manassas Junction;... the expedition
to move before or on the 22d day of February next." This was the
distinct, as the general order had been the indirect, adoption of his
own plan of campaign, and the overruling of that of the general.
McClellan at once remonstrated, and the two rival plans thus came face
to face for immediate and definitive settlement. It must be assumed
that the President's order had been really designed only to force
exactly this issue; for on February 3, so soon as he received the
remonstrance, he invited argument from the general by writing to him a
letter which foreshadowed an open-minded reception for views opposed to
his own:--
"If you will give satisfactory answers to the following questions, I
shall gladly yield my plan to yours:--
"1st. Does not your plan involve a greatly larger expenditure of _time_
and _money_ than mine?
"2d. Wherein is a victory _more certain_ by your plan than mine?
"3d. Wherein is a victory _more valuable_ by your plan than mine?
"4th. In fact, would it not be _less_ valuable in this: that it would
break no great line of the enemy's communications, while mine would?
"5th.
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