rence and Candler, aides-de-camp, I tender my sincere thanks for their services.

Very respectfully

JOSEPH HOOKER,

Brigadier-General, Commanding Division.

Captain CHAUNCEY McKEEVER,

Assistant Adjutant-General, Third Army Corps.

HEADQUARTERS, U. S., INSANE ASYLUM

Near Washington, D., C. November 8, 1862

Major General GEORGE A. McCALL, Commanding, &c.:

Your letter of the 30th ultimo* reached me day before yesterday, since which time my engagements have prevented reply, and even now I have not time to give it the consideration it requires.

I regret extremely that you should have discovered any exceptionable statements in my report of the battle of Glendale, and if injustice has been done you or your command I shall be rejoiced to remove it, but before doing so I must be satisfied that I am in error.

In rendering the report of Glendale my single object was to be just to my own division, and if I had felt that my desire admitted of execution without reference to your command I assure you no mention would have been made of it by me.

You will excuse me, general, if I give you some of my reasons for supposing that your command had met with discomfiture at Glendale, and I believe I nowhere leave it to be inferred that it was not without abundant cause, for of that I had no opportunity of knowing. Sumner was on my right in an open field, where at one time not less than six or eight regimental colors were seen flying to the rear, while between my position and his the horses of the artillery, without their batteries, and the dragoons rushed down the road. Crowds of men were even running panic-stricken to the rear along the road, and far to the right and left of it I myself arrested an officer in his flight with a small body of men, who represented himself to be in command of the provost guard of your division, and ordered him to halt, form his guard, and check the flight of the runaways in his immediate vicinity, which he attempted, but was soon hurried to the rear by overwhelming numbers. He declared openly that this division had been all cut to pieces, that all the artillery was lost, and that several regiments had lost their standards. From my personal observation I must confess I was prepared to believe it all, and without knowing the impression of any great number of the officers of Sumner's and your own command, I never felt a doubt but that they confirmed my own. If it should become necessary their evidence can readily be procured as well as that of officers of Kearny's command, on your right. In fact, I am more indebted to that officer for knowledge of the operations on the right than to any one with whom I have conversed. Of what related to the extreme right I know nothing from personal observation.

You will remember where I met yourself and General Meade, in the vicinity of your batteries, early in the afternoon, and it was only from that visit that I had an opportunity to form an idea of your position. With regard to Sumner's views of our relative positions, as communicated

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*Not found, but see McCall's report, Numbers 154.

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