RICHMOND, VA., February 12, 1862.

Honorable J. P. BENJAMIN, Secretary of War:.

SIR: In compliance with your request of this morning I have the honor to supply the following answer to the charges preferred against me by Major General T. J. Jackson:*

to the 1st specification of 1ST CHARGE, I need only reply that on beginning the march ont eh 1st of January I received a note from General Jackson requesting to see me in Winchester, 4 miles in rear. Before leaving I directed my inspector-general to go forward with field officer from each brigade and select a suitable encampment, giving him instructions as to location and comfort, and as soon as possible joined the command before its encampments were made, examined and approved the arrangements. This allegation is therefore without foundation..

2nd specification. General Jackson and a portion of his staff were in front of the advance guard at the time and place specified, and learned before I did that the advance scouts had fallen in with the enemy's picket. The first information received by me was from an officer of his staff, directing a force to be thrown upon and over the hill on our left, to take the enemy in flank and rear. This was done in handsome style by four companies of Gilham's regiment. The evidence of the promptness of the movement is found in the fact that they killed 4-as I was informed-and took 8 prisoners of a lying picket. Simultaneously another force was thrown upon a hill on our right flank, which moved to the front in splendid style at double-quick. Night came on, and as a snow-storm was brewing, the command bivouacked on the road-side, by order of General Jackson..

3rd specification. The halt of the head of the column mentioned in this specification was in consequence of the line of march being enfiladed by the enemy's cannon on a hill in front and flanked by a party of his infantry stationed on a wooded hill on our left. The force-militia-sent by General Jackson the evening before to attack this flank having failed to drive off the enemy, upon consultation with General Jackson I ordered a regiment to proceed at double-quick and dislodge him. This order was countermanded by General Jackson to await re-enforcements, and the delay was occasioned by him and not be me. I moved upon Bath without his orders and upon my own responsibility, notifying him of the fact..

4th specification. I can scarcely be held responsible for the results when I had no control over the cause. That portion of my command was rendered unfit for active service by marches of cruel severity, which prostrated it, was fault, but can only be attributed to him who ordered it. I obeyed the instructions of my superior. While I gave every attention in my power to the march, the state of the roads and the inclemency of the weather rendered it impossible to avert the sickness and suffering of the troops. It is hardly possible that an important expedition could have been frustrated, for this inefficient part of my force, as stated, was but one-third of the whole, and only that particular force was called for..

5th specification. An intimate acquaintance with the Army Regulations and the customs of the service for some twenty-six years has failed to inform me of the fact that a respectful and truthful statement by commanders of the condition of their commands was other than a duty, and when in was accompanied by a request for the amelioration of their.

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*See Johnston to Cooper, February 7, p. 1065.

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