Southern standard. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1851-1856, 1852-10-23

followed the 18th with my command across the I
Drdge-and being ordered to the left, WAS oblig- {
ed TO pass in the oft to attain my position. -
had, therefore, an opportunity OF witnessing the
conduct Of Gen. Neill from the time we marched
from our camp until passed the left of his line, |
then engaged in deadly confct-he foraed his |
regiment under the fire of the enemy. with the ac-
cuTacy Of parade, aud such was his perfect self
possession, that every word of command he gave
could be distinctly heard far beyond his own line !
He promptly avaied himself of every advantage
presented by the ground and the errors of the en-
england welded his force with as much cool
ness and judgment, as the accomplished chess
player displays in the movement of his pieces on
the chess board. The enemy was beaten, and he |
certainly contributed much to the victory any
other man on the field
At the battle of Brdgewater General Mcneil
led his regiment into the field with his accustomed
galantry, and formed on the ground assigned to
him, under the fire of British battery Of nine
pieces of artillery. There his regiment, as we'll as
the brigade of which it formed part was literal
ly cut to pieces-grape and canister were poured
upon them like hail--and though they were placed
too far from the enemy to act with decisive effect
and were opposed with superior numbers, the con-
fict was maintained more than an hour, until Gen
Brown arrived on the field with Ripleys and Por-
ter's briGades. General McNeill was severely
wounded. l was on another part of the field
but was informed at the time'that his horse had
been killed under him, and that canister shot
had passed through his leg. The officers who
commanded the regiments of the second brigade,
have received the highest honors of the nation, or
of their respective States, while those who COM
manded the regiments of the first brigade have,
with single exception, General Brady remain
ed unnotced this is perhaps to be ascrbed to the
fact, that the commander ofthe brigade, who owes
to it his whole reputation, has not to this day re-
ported its operations at Brdgewater.
have the honor to be, Sir, your obd't sery't,
(Signed, I. S. JESUP.
The Hon. s. PHELPS, Senate U. S.
There is one point made in SCOTS autobiography
which characterizes the man more than any other
in the whole book He sees noO what he ought to
have seen, but did not see at the very threshold
of the battle of Lundy's Lane. The British bat
terry of cannon played with great skill on the crest
of hill, commanded the whole slope by which our
army was to approach it, and TowSon's battery
could not counteract it, from its position under the
hill. Leavenworth in his testimony in Ripley'sI
case, says: "Col. Towson finding from the eleva-
ted situation of the enemys artillery, that he could
not bring bis artillery to bear upon them, had
nearly or quite ceased firing" At the beginning
of the battle all he could do with his battery was
to animate our troops to stand by the thunder of
his guns. Leavenworth says: ''The company OF
artillery under the command of Colonel (then
Captain) Towson, officer above any encomium,
was moved up and formed on the right of the 9th
regiment, and by its frequent and incessant DIS
charges highly animated the spirit Of oar troops"
And this was all he could do in the position in
which he was placed. They stood and were shot
down, and fred to animate the infantry to stand
and be shot down. And this continued to be the
case until Gen. Brown came and saw that the bat
terry must be taken or the whole army sacrificed.
Scott sees that noW, although he did not see it
when he might have preserved his gallant brigade
by rushing the battery, with the bayonet in the
beginning instead of standing 200 or 800 yards
off, plying it Intellectually with musketry and
equally Intellectually with artillery. He sees it
now, when the author and executor of this decis-
i've charge are in their graves, and he endeavors
t. strip them both of the merit of the achievement
He says 1.-The regiment of the heroic Miller was
dispatched on the perilous service of silencing the
British battery on the heights. Gen. Scott vol
unteered to lead the way, and did so through the
darkness, up to the point of attack" This is out
and out shameful falsehood. We have in the
autobiography wood-cut with Scott on horse
back leading Miller's regiment to the attack
Now, of the survivors of that battle two are in
Washington city, and both will testify, that Scott
was never heard of before in connection with that
charge. He was thrown back some FIVE hundred
yards from the heights to gather his broken brig
ade, and while he was thus employed, Brown in
terposed Porters and Ripleys brgades and took
the battle into his own hands 1t was at this eri-
sis, when Scott out of the battle entirely that
Browns first movement was to storm the battery.
Brown says himself that McCrea of his staff and
principal engineer, suggested it as soon as they
were in the field. Ripley also saw the necessity
oft and mentioned it to Miller, and Millers let
ter to Brown proves that the General-in chief per-
sonally gave the order. Miller, in a letter to
Brown, says; "The fact is, after receiving from
battery, l obeyed it as soon as possible with my
regiment" In Rpley's trial, where this point is
closely scanned as the leading incident of the bat
tie, Scottis not mentioned as being consulted even
much less acting in it.
ScOtt'S Injustice to Van Rensselaer,, Wool, Sc.
The same spirit of monopoly characterizes the
account of every transaction of the war of 1919,
with which General Scott had any connection, and
which is made to figure with the recent pictoralil-
lustration Of his life. The battle of Queenstown
Hei yhts was fought by Col. Van Rensselaer,, and
after he fell, wounded by several balls by Captain,
now General Wool, who, with Captain Ogilve,
stormed the British batteries. The battle had be-
gun "a few minutes before daybreak,'' and the
heights were taken and the batteries stormed Tin
the process of which the British Commander-in-
chic, General Brock, was killed) between three
and four o'clock in the afternoon. "About this
time" says General Wool, which WAS between
three and four O'Clock in the afternoon ttLieuten-
ant Colonel Christie arrived and took the COM
mand." There had been, after the flight of the
British on the death Of Brock and the storming oil
the batteries, a cessation of the conflict It was