positively that they had not the confidence of the army, and therefore suggested that the three should resign. The President said that he could not think of accepting his resignation, and asked him if he had any objections to going to the others interested and making the statements in their presence. Burnside said, "No, certainly not;" and they went to the War Department, saw the Secretary and General-in-Chief, and in their presence he reiterated his remarks about want of confidence; that neither of them said a word with reference to the matter, and the conversation after that was an attempt to get orders to cross the river or orders not to cross the river. Burnside also made in Washington, and at the time, the same statement to Mr. John Tucker, then Assistant Secretary of War, and I certainly placed implicit confidence in his story. You are entirely at liberty to make any use of this letter.

Yours, as ever,

WM. F. SMITH.

PERSONAL AND PRIVATE.] WASHINGTON, June 5, 1863.

Major-General FRANKLIN, York, Pa.:

GENERAL: Yours of the 3rd instant, inclosing a copy of General Smith's letter of May 29, is received. No such conversation as that mentioned by General Smith, nor any in the slightest degree resembling it, ever took place between General Burnside, the President, Mr. Stanton, and myself. What General Burnside may have said to the President or Secretary of War about me, in my absence, I, of course, do not know; but I have assurances that he never suggested my removal to either.

I have no desire to push this inquiry any further, being satisfied that General Burnside's memory was, at least at the time, unreliable.

Very respectfully,

H. W. HALLECK.

YORK, PA., June 6, 1863.

Major General H. W. HALLECK,

General-in-Chief, U. S. Army, Washington, D. C.:

GENERAL: Yesterday I received a letter from Brigadier General W. T. H. Brooks, U. S. Volunteers, and extract from which I give you below:

"I heard Burnside make the statement in your presence (the statement referred to is that General Burnside told the President that he ought to remove the Secretary of War and General Halleck). I have heard Sedgwick and Hancock say they heard Burnside make the statement. I have heard Hooker refer to it as though he had heard it direct. I am almost certain I have heard Meade say he had heard Burnside make the same statement."

"I called the Secretary's attention to this in a letter written just before our last move, but he says he never received it."

Very respectfully, yours,

W. B. FRANKLIN.

HARTFORD, CONN., March 19, 1866.

Major General H. W. HALLECK, U. S. Army,

San Francisco, Cal.:

GENERAL: I have considered the correspondence between yourself and me as to General Burnside as confidential hitherto. But he has