Enough Was Done For Glory

This entry is from Jefferson Davis:  Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by His Wife (1890) by Varina Davis.  Davis is consoling Beauregard for not taking Washington after the first Battle of Bull Run.

RICHMOND, VA, August 4, 1861
GENERAL BEAUREGARD, Manassas, Va.
My DEAR SIR: I think you are unjust to yourself in putting your failure to pursue the enemy to Washington to the account of short supplies of subsistence and transportation. Under the circumstances of our army, and in the absence of the knowledge since acquired, if indeed the statements be true, it would have been extremely hazardous to have done more than was performed. You will not fail to remember that, so far from knowing that the enemy was routed, a large part of our forces were moved by you, in the night of the 21st, to repel a supposed attack upon our right, and that the next day's operations did not fully reveal what has since been reported of the enemy's panic. Enough was done for glory, and the measure of duty was full. Let us rather show the untaught that their desires are unreasonable, than, by dwelling on the possibilities recently developed, give form and substance to the criticisms always easy to those who judge after the event. With sincere esteem, I am your friend,
JEFFERSON DAVIS.

Jefferson Davis, photograph by Mathew Brady, from Library of Congress Collection