M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1862-07-10

Tenn, June 10 1862.
Lieut. Gov. B. Sgton, Columbus Ohio:
SIR:-l am not surprised when
anonymous subseSoers write and
publish ialsei6ods, or make criticisms
on matters of which they know moth.
| ling or which they Me incapable Of
comprehending. 1t is their trade
They live by it. slander gives point
and piquqneg 70 paragraph, and the
fSriter, b5I6k irresponsible orheueath
notice, esc,lboa a merited punishpiegt
1t is different with men ir high Of
feial stations who,Jike you, d..sceud
to this dirty work. You had an op.
portunity to luarn the truth, for lsaw
] You, agSslk .ateesilG!. soephiter the
fbattle, ajNHl,n6GNtRat hundreds would
have aIgd you nj your go@ bad You
been jntasTOA-sl isc!apg re"Aoyerip.
quiyed II ne conc ssning de tSith Of
cvepls yaiak1I56 musSAaseg known
ItrausbHed Nd my eight and hearing,
but. seemed to have prssesred the
lcanp 1te+Nsn to auhientiC data then
wrtEid[Sbur reach.
A friend, by mere accident, has
shown mo slip Of newspaper dated
April 10Th, 1892, styled Extra"
published at BclIeiontaine, Ohio, and
sigred 3. Stanton. lfso, and you
he tlK lieutenant Governor Of Ohio,
| h0'~that you are my peer, and that
OF Gencrps Grant llurbut, and Prem
ths, all III whom you directly charge
with coudnet on the field Of Shiloh
which deserves a conrt martial, whose
sentence, il You have not borne false
witness, would be degradation or
death. The accusatory part of yonr
stateIAent all false, false in general,
false in every particlar, and repeat
yon could not have failed to know it
false when you published that state
meut. To prove what Say, lnow
quote the concluding part Of your pa
per:
"Some complaints have been made
about the conduct of'a fem'of the new
regiments IN this battle, inciuGing the
54th and 57Lh. 1t must be remem-
bered that these are new regiments
that not only have they never seen
any service, hut that they never re.
ceived their guns until they arrived
on the Tennessee river, two or three
weeks before the battle. Sc with
Myers Battery, 1t has not been more
than six weeks since they have had
their horses. And yet these rogi'
ments and this battery were not on
the extreme outside Of our camp, and
were consequently first exposed to the
enemy's fIA Add to this that our
lines were so careIessly and negligent
| ly guarded that the enemy were abso-
lutely on us in Our very tents before
| the officers in command were aware
of their approach. The wonder
therefore is. not that these regiments
were finally broken and routed, but
that they made any stand at all. But
the loss sustained by these regiments,
especially by Capt. Starts company
in the 54th, shows that they made a
gallant and noble stand and that their
ultimate retrea; was not the fault Of
the men, but of the laundering stupid.
ity and negligence Of the General in
command. There is an intense feel
ing Of Indignation against Generals
Grant and Prentiss, and the general
feeling amongst the most intelligent
men with whom | conversod, is that
they ought to be court martialed and
shot.
(Signed) Yours, &c,
"B. STANTON"
With Myers Battery | have moth.
ing to do. aa it was in General uur'
lours Division, who has made his Of
ticial report, which proves yours I'M
true: for instead of being kept on the
"evtreme outside Of our camp" it was,
at the beginning of the battle, more
than a mile to the rear OF mine and
.McClernand's and Prentiss's Divis'
ions. The 54th, Colonel I. kilby
Smith, and 57h, Colonel William
,Mungen did form a part ol my com
mand. No one that have heard has
questioned the courage and gallantry
of the 54th, unless it be inferred from
your own apology for them, and
know that | speak the mind of the OF.
ficers OF that regiment when SAY
they scorn to have their merits bols
tered up by your lame and iIhportent
conclusions. AS to their being on
the outer line, it where they wished to
be, and 80 far from being surprised,
they were, by my orders, under arms
at daylight,and it was near 10 A. M.
before the enemy assailed their posi-,
ton. This position was SO favorable
that Colonel Stuart, with bic small
brigade, of which the 54th. formed a
part, held at bay for hours Hardee's
whole Division, composed Of Infantry