As late as the 13th, Halleck telegraphed Schenck, in answer to an inquiry, that he had no reliable information as to rebel infantry being in the Valley, and the same day Schenck wired his chief of staff at Harper's Ferry to "Instruct General Milroy to use great caution, risking nothing unnecessarily, and be prepared for falling back in good order if overmatched."
Milroy advised Schenck of fighting at Winchester on the 13th, and from General Kelley, on the same day, Schenck learned for the first time that General Lee was on his way to drive Milroy out of Winchester. Schenck at once attempted to telegraph Milroy to "fall back, fighting, if necessary, and to keep the road to Harper's Ferry."
Halleck wired Schenck on the 14th: "It is reported that Longstreet and Ewell's corps have passed through Culpeper to Sperryville, towards the Valley."( 7)
This was the first intimation that came from Halleck or Hooker that Lee's army contemplated moving in the direction of the Valley, or that there was any apprehension that it might escape the vigilance of the Army of the Potomac, supposed to be confronting it or at least watching its movements. Another dispatch came on the 14th to General Schenck as follows:
"Get Milroy from Winchester to Harper's Ferry if possible. He will be 'gobbled up' if he remains, if he is not already past salvation.
"A. Lincoln,
"President United States."
It remains to narrate what did take place at Winchester, and then, in the full light of the facts, to decided upon whom censure or credit should fall.
When, on the 14th, Halleck announced that Longstreet and Ewell's corps "have passed through Culpeper to Sperryville towards the Valley," we had been fighting Ewell's corps, or parts of it, for two days at Winchester, three days' march from Culpeper, and other portions of Lee's army had reached the Valley and Martinsburg. The report that Winchester was to have been attacked on June 10th was true, but the advance of the Union cavalry south of the Rappahannock, and its battle on the 9th at Brandy Station, north of Culpeper Court House (Lee's then headquarters), so disorganized the Confederate cavalry as to cause a delay in the movement of Ewell's corps into the Valley, then proceeding via Front Royal.
On the night of the 12th of June my scouts found it impossible to advance more than four or five miles on the Front Royal, Strasburg, and Cedar Creek roads before encountering Confederate cavalry pickets. This indicated, as was the fact, that close behind them were heavy bodies of infantry which it was desired to closely mask. At midnight I had an interview at my own solicitation with Milroy at his headquarters, when the whole subject of our situation was discussed. I was not advised of the orders or dispatches he had received, nor of his dispatches to Schenck expressing confidence in his ability to hold Winchester. Milroy persisted in the notion that only cavalry were before him, and he was anxious to fight them and especially averse to retreating under circumstances that might subject him to the charge of cowardice. He also sincerely desired to hold the Valley and protect the Union residents. He reminded me fiercely that I had believed in the attack coming on the 10th, and it had turned out that I was mistaken. I could make no answer to this save to suggest that the cavalry battle at Brandy Station had operated to postpone the attack.
During my acquaintance with Milroy he had evinced confidence in and friendship for me; now he manifested much annoyance over my persistence in urging him to order a retreat at once, and finally he dismissed me rather summarily.( 8)