The Chattanooga Daily Rebel. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1862-1864, 1862-10-10
HAITIAN 00G A.:
FRIDAY MORNING. OCT. 10, 1862
srEssRs. SWANS HEIssSILL's ASD
HAYNES LETTER.

we give below Whilst we differ essentially
with them as to the best policy to be pursu
ed, we arc willing and anxious that the ar
suSsents they use should 60 before the pub
lie, IN order that correct opinion may be
formed We arc free to admit that they
have used the strongest arguments that can
be used in favor of the policy they advocate,
but We think ~e can show that their posi-
tions are unteDablc and their policy not the
best. The main ground that they assume is
that we have twenty thousand officers in the
old regiments "who have borne the burden
and heat of the day and have qualified them
selves by service aud experience to lead men
in battle" Now, as n matter of fact, many
fthe officers who have qualified themselves
by service and experience to lead men in
bntele are not now in service, many Of them
having been defeated in the Reorganization,
notwithstanding their qualifications. OF
the Colonies who commanded Tennessee
regiments at Saskatchewan, Stephens,
i.ooney, Battle, Peoples. and many others
whose names we do not now rcmcmbcr-are
no longer in command. so it is with sub
ordinate officers Many able and true men
have been re-clectcd, but it is equally true
that many who have borne the heat and
burden of the day and NH" have qualified
themselves by service and experience to lead
men in battle, arc now out Of the service
and are anxious to raise regiments and We
further believe that there are many who
have never been in the service, but who are
now willing to enter, who will make just as
good officers as the officers of the old rcgi-
ments. They did not 20 int" the service
for reasons satisfactory to thcmsel"Gs-not
for want of ratriotism--and for the further
reason that the Go, crnlucut was not abln ia
arm them. These gentlemen say liz their
liter that :. tlicrc are ten regiments Of in
.;.n,ry, ,wo l,nttaior,s of cavalry anu i've
companies of artillery from East Tennessee
and that ON fair calculation it will take ten
thousand EIGHT hundred men To fiil thcs, or
l:nzations to the number required by law.
That would ,:iyr an average Of more than
"i.ht hundred new recruits To each rcci-
men: nccordn" 10 the estimates Of these
ccnrl, men. VIII any one pretend that 4
regiment composed of eight hundred new
recruits, whether they are called conscripts
ar volunteers can be considered Il veteran
regiment. 1t would rather be new regi-
ncnt with Il few veteran troops in il, and
would il be right for three or four hundred
men to select officers for regiment com
posed OF twelve hundred if the elective sys-
ten is to be adopted F.
In regard to the officers of the old regi-
ments, We say let them recruit for their reg.
in'cnts and fill them up, or if they cannot
do that, let them go into new organ izations,
when, if they are well qualified, as many of
them are. they will get positions IN the
army The argument that you must force
men into old regiments merely because
otherwise the officers Of those regiments
would lose their Offices by having regiments
united, goes upon the idea that those off
GERS have prominent claim to the offices
and are better qualified than any others
This argument might do in . regular army
where all the ofHccrs arc educated military
men, but fails when applied to volunteer
organizations.
These gentlemen say:
I" If the officers Of the veteran regiments
could come before the country and show
them their wounds, sustained in service,
wave those blood stained banners, and with
simple eloquence present the warlike en-
terprises with which these historical regi-
mcnts arc associated, We would have no fear
that the true men of the country would fall
into the positions to which our policy as
signs them"
That this would be the case in many in
stances, VIC as fully believe as these gentle
men, and therefore We advocate the policy
OF letting men join whatever regiments they
think proper. Recruiting officers from
these regiments, who have been wounded in
battle and who have their scars upon them.
car get, and haye gotten, permission to 60
home and recruit for their regiments and
if the argument Of Messrs Swan, Heiskill
and Haynes is true as we. are inclined to
think it is in this particular; there will be
no need of forcing men into old, regiments.
but the 'wounds. received by The officers
OF these veteran regiments, with the blood