Lincoln - June 1862 Chattanooga as important as Richmond

WASHINGTON, D. C., June 30, 1862.
Major-General HALLECK, Corinth, Mi8s:

Would be very glad of 25,000 infantry—no artillery or cavalry; but
l)lease do not send a man if it endangers any place you deem important
to hold or if it forces you to give up or weaken or delay the expedition
against Chattanooga. To take and hold the railroad at or east of
Cleveland, in East Tennessee, I think fully as important as the taking
and holding of Richmond.

A.LINCOLN.