Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1863-04-23

N>~N'NN~
to the death of Col. Kimball, we find in
the New York papers. According to these
statements, General Corcoran acted simply
in self-defence, not knowing who his as
sailant was, having never before seen Col
onel Kimball, who had no right to stop
him, and who was deaf to all expostula-
ton. Gen. Corcoran asks for Court of
Inquiry, and, for the sake of both parties,
il should certainly be ordered.
GEN. coRcoRAN TO col. HAWKES..
Headquarters First Division,
Seventh Army Corps,
Suffolk, Va, April IL, 1868.
Coz. HAWKINS, Commanding 9th Regi-
ment N. Y. v, Hawkins Zouaves.
COLONEL: To prevent any misappre-
henslon, send you brief statement in
relation to the sad affair of Sunday NOR
ming, which resulted, regret to say, in
the death of Lieut.. Col. Kimball.
At about 2 4 o'clock a. M, ! left nv
quarters and proceeded along the main
road toward the front lines for the purpose
| OF having the troops under arms at 3 o.
clock, IN obedience to the order of the
Major General commanding When ar
rived opposite the hospital of my brigade,
an officer. whose rank could not recognize
(the night being very dark and whom I
judged to be such only from the fact Of his
having sword, rushed in 'front.' of me and
ordered me to halt. Hating asked if
was Dir. Heath Zone of the surgeons of
the Irish Legion) and was answered hv
another order TO halt with the additional
remark, Z" 1t is none Of Your God id
business, | want the countersign.o Per-
ceiving i. was not the doctsr, | requested
to know the object Of his halting me, md
his.name, rank and authority, but could
obtain no other reply than that il was
''none OF my God d---d husaess.H
repeated the question several times and re-
celyed similar answers, with / exception
thar the couHtersign was not demandelmore
than once. and he added, "You cannGt mass
here" eXpostulated with him upon
such conduct, and told him to remember
he was not on duty, and had no right 20
be there and stop me from procAedng,and
that be must let me pass. | asked hun if
he knew who he VAS talking TO- and then
gaze him my name and rank, telling him
also that was going to the front under or
ders, and even my business there; but it
was of no avail. He answered, 81 do not
care q God id who you are.n again
told him told him that should pass, aud
warned him several times to get ont of nv
way, and attempted to proceed. Hethere-
upon put himself in determined attitude
to prevent my progress, and ~brandishing
his sword in one hand, and having IN the
other pistol a. | then supposedly made
a movement toward me with the evident
design of using them, and, at the same
time, stated: 81 will be God id If
you shall !" 1t was at this point that us
ed my weapon. 1t seemed that the more
| endeayored to pursnade the more obstin-
ate he became. Nothing but the conside-
ration that my life was IN danger, which
had every reason to fear, and the duty
that was incumbent upon me at that par
tcalar time, when an attack upon our
line was apprehended, would have justified
me, in my own mind, iii taking the meas
ure then did. As soldiers of long SER
vice, | am convinced that you will recog
nlze the necessity and lawfulness Of The
act, however much You may regret that It
was caused by one OF your number. and
none does more than myself, for although
| had never before seen & ol. Kimball that
am aware ct, | had learned to respact
him for his gallantry IN several engage
ments Of the present war.
1t was not until after the occurrence
that ! learned who it was but had he
been my best friend, | cannot see how it
could have resulted otherwise from the
part he acted on that occasion. With no
authority TO demand the counterslgn. T
would have been derelect in my dutv had
| yielded to hls demand. He refused to
give me his name, or rank, or anv infor-
nation about HIM, or upon what authority
0t any, he assumed to act 1.-THE fact being
as yon are well aware, that he had none)
especially as his request was couched in
the terms have stated, and the enemy
was Immediately in our front, called upon
me to act with more than ordinary precis-
ion in revealing the eountersign, and not
unless to one entitled to it.
But beside this, the personal violence /
had just cause TO fear gaze me an un-
doubted right to protect myself against it.
intended to have sent this statement
before, but my duties for the past few days
have prevented it, and | have now been
obliged to make it hurriedly, hoping there
by TO correct any erroneous impressions
that may have been made, and to prevent
them in the future,
will only be too glad to have an off,
cial investigation of the matter at any
time.
| am, Colonel, your obedient servant,
MICHAEL COCHRAN,
Brigadier General,