, 1865-12-30

NNAA
ftderatcs:
HAVANA, Dec. Is, 1865.
To the Editors Of the New York News.
Having seen 1t stated in several papers pub
Ishcd IN tue United States that nm IN ap
plfcant tor pardon, desHe to say, through
your columns, that there Is no truth whatever
In this statement. have neither made not
authorized such application, and would moi
accept pardon from the President OF the
United States If grntuitous!y rendered me
without conditions or restrictions Of any kind
have nothing to regret in the course pur.
sued by me- during the war, except that my
services were not OF more avail to the cause
for Which fought; and my faith in the jus
tice Of TINT cause Is not ut I'LL shaken blythe
result.
] have not given parole or Incurred any
obligation to the authorities of the United
States, and utterly dlsc1aim all allegiance to,
or dependence upon, the Government Of TINT
country. am voluntary exile from my
own country, because am not willing to sub
declarations attributed to nc which are in
consistent with the above statement, are ut.
tcr1y without foundation, and I hope there
will be 10 further misapprehension rs to my
position.
The reports Of the campaigns of 1861 and
1875 by Secretary Stanton and Lieutenant
General Grant, recently published, contain
many erroneous statements which do great
injustice to the Confederate armies. The
press In the Southern 9tAtes Is at present ef.
Jectually mnzzlcd By military rule, and the
Confederate cause has no appropriate organ
By which the ears Of the world can be reach
cd. The time will arriye, however, when u
trne history of the warfare can be written so
es TO enable foreign natfous and postcrity to
DO justice 10 the character Of those who have
sustained 60 unequal struggle for all that
is dear 10 man. In anticipation of that time,
will cnll attention to some facts which will
show the tremendous odds the Confederate
armies had to encounter.
The disparity between the forces OF sheri.
dan and myse1l in the Valley campaign was
c:cn greater than that between Lee aud
Grant. My force, when arrived In front OF
tho fnrtilcations Of Washington on the it'll
Of July, 1854, was eight thousand e, ,00o) mus
kets, three small batalllons OF artillery with
largest were twelve FOUNDER Napo1eons, and
about two thousand e. .000) badly mounted
and equipped cavalry, Of which large por-
tiou hnl been detached to cut the railroads
leading from Baltimore north. Gen. Grnnt
says tllat two divisions Of the Sixth corps and
The advance Of the Nfnteeenth corps arrived
ut Washington before did, and Mr. Stanton
part Of the Nineteenth corps under Gen.
Emory, and a part Of the Eighth corps under
Gen. Gilmore. My force had then marched
SEQ miles, marching, at least, twenty miles
cacb day, except the day Of the fight at Mono.
cacy, when 1t marched fourteen miles and
fought and defeated Wallace.
!. At the battle Of Winchester, or Opcquan as
it Is called by General Grant, my effective
strength was abo1t eight thousand five hun
dred {, 500} muskets, the three battalions oi
artillery and less than three thousand {3,000)
cavalry. Sheridan's infantry consisted OF the
1 Sixth, Nineteenth, and Crooks corps, COM
posed Of one division Of the Eighth corps and
ia." Some idea may be formed
Of the strength Of the Sixth corps,
when it Is reccollccttd that the Army Of the
Potomac was composed OF three corps on the
list Of A1ny previous, to Wit: the Second,
Fifth and Sixth, and that It's effective strength
mcnt,- 1a6, ,3s0. The same statement shows
Department Of West Virginia." on tic
1st Of May, was So,7so, ind most O
; The sEoopts t.,,. in r. III this aepartmsnt
strength Of the Nineteenth Corps to hare
been at the battle of Winchester, not less thar
12,0m effective men. Official reports captured
at Cedar Creek showed TINT Shcrlt3an's cav
alry, On tie 18th Of September, two days be
fore the fight. numbered II, ,oo0 present fol
duty. Ills artillery was vastly superior to
mine in number Of men and guns. The Sixth
Corps alone must have exceeded my entirt
strength, unless 1t had met with such tre,
nlcndo1ls losses as to reduce its strength al
least tlrcc-fonrths. From all the Information
and from documents captured at Cedar Creek,
am satisfied that shcridan's effective in.
fantry strength at Winchester could not have
been less than s, ,0@ muskets, aud It was pro-
badly more. The odds against nc, therefore,
were fully four to one, and probably more,
lis very great superiority In caralry was very
disadvantngeous to me, as the country was
very open and admirably adapted to cavalry
operations, and my cavalry, being mostly
aimed with English rifles without pistols OF
saorcs, could not fight his, whose equipment
and arms wetc complete.
At the fight ut Cedar Greek had been re-
enforced BY one division Of infantry {ker-
shaw's) numbering twenty-seven hundred
t2,100) muskets, one small battalion Of nrtille-
~ and about Six hundred (G00} cavalry, which
about made up my losses al Winchester aud
Fishers Hill. ! went into this fight with
eight thousand 1--WE hundred e ,500) muskets,
about forty pieces of artillery and about
twelve husdrcd Il 200 cavalry, rs the rest Of
MT cavalry, which was guarding the Luray
Valley, did not get up IN time, though order
cd to move ut the same time moved to the
attack Sheridan's infantry had been re-
crultcd fully up to It's strength ut Winchester,
the official reports captured. The main cause
why the route Of his army IN the morn-
ing was not complete was the fact that my
cavalry could not compete With his, and tile
latter, therefore, remained i1t0et- He claimed
all lis own guns that had been captured in
the morning and afterward recaptured, as go
many guns captured from me, whereas ( lost
only twenty-thrce guns, and the loss OF these
and the wagons which were taken was mainly
owing to the fact that bridge on 4 narrow