Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-10-05

that I never wrote but one letter to him
: The letter was written when / vas in
: command Of the right flank division O
} the army Of the Potomac. It was ms
} first, last, only letter or message to him
, and was as followB rEI H
a sPo0LEsvILLE. Nd, septem5sr g 1851.
Hon. Charles sumner, o. s. Senator;
Sir: II the National Hatellioence1
newspaper Of the -th inst. quotes you
correctly, you have uttered, on the floor
of the senate, a falsehood and a slander.
Permit me to thank you for the speech
in which you use my name. There can
be no higher proof. In my opinion, that
a soldier in the field is faithfully per-
forming his duty, than the fact that
while ne Is receiving the shot Of the pub.
lie enemy In front, he is receiving the
vituperation of a well known coward
from a safe distance in the rear.
Very respectfully, your olledient servant,
CHAS. P. STONE"
The above letter was intrusted to a
well known gentleman Of New England,
then colonel Of artillery, who subse-
quently Informed me that he, delivered
10 in person st Mr.. Summers lodings in
I Washington on Christmas morning.
! Having never received from Mr.. Sum
ner any reply to the above letter, have.
Of course, never held any further COM
municatiOn with him. ~
It is due to myself and my friends that
I / should state why wrote to a senator
Of the United States 80 vehement let
I ter. The circumstances (some of them)
were these l was at that time, as al
ready stated, in command Of a large di-
vision Of excellent troops, among which
were three admirable regiments raised
! ia Massachusetts,, my native state.
My command held q picket line
/ Of moress than seventy miles'
length along the Potomac, our piekets
being within speaking distance OF those
Of the enemy. We alone covered the
/ northwestern approaches to the capitaI.
/ Washington, and Il is easy to see that
! good discipline and perfect subordination
1 were essential. w soccnfBed county Of
/ the state OF Marylsnd and it will be re-
/ membered that this was the first season
of the war, and that great eircumspee-
/ ton was necessary in q commander so
situated. Rigid discipline was necessary,
not only to cope with the enemy. but
also to prevent the troops sent to protect
the soil and people Of Maryland from be-
coming, II allowed license, ODDressOTs of
those people. Moreover, during train
lug Of fifteen years in the service Of the
United States, | had been taught thst
military officers were expected to O6ey
and eTeclIte the laws. Therefore nv
orders published TO the troops were al
ways based upon the principle that We
were to protect our own people and fight
the enemy, both to the best ofour ability
Copies of my orders, as matter Of
course, duly transmitted to my superiors.
from whom [ never received any criti-
cisms upon them, and have, therefore.
always supposed that nothing objection
able was found in them by those superb
ors. / ascertsiued, however, that Mr..
Sumner was seriously displeased with
some Of those orders; for 1t was brought
to my notice that he was from his place
in the senate, writing letters to my sub
ordinates, urging them to disobey my
orders.
"Can it be believedn that a LoyaK sel0.
tor, one who had taken the oath REQUIRED
by his office, was using his great influence.
10 time Of terrible war, to create q spirit
OF insubOriinatiOu among troops in the
immediate presence Of the enemy? II
was sol have the documents to prove
it. Mt satisfied with thus attempting
&c undermine general officer in the
field, he also attacked me in the most
violent language in speech delivered
in the senate chamber.
1t became necessary to decide the point
Immediately, whether Mr.. Summers
ideas or my orders should rule the
division under my command. If the
soldiers were to be taught that my orders
to respect a civil magistrate in the proper
discharge Of his duty could be safely dis
obeyed, because Mr.. Sumner deemed
such orders wrong, then they might also
take upon themselves to disobey an order
which directed them 90 hold Sn outpost
against ali odds, because they might
deem that wrong; and yet the safety of
the army might depend upon their obe-
dienee.
Only two courses were open to me.
One was to prefer charges against him
for exciting iusubordinati0n among the
troops; the other to treat the matter OF
his speech ss personal, and to act upon
that.
The first course could not well be
adopted, as in those days civilians were
not held amenable to military laws. and
there was no civil law against such pro-
ceedings. The other course was the
shorter and most certain to lead to some
quick results, and / adopted it, fully un-
derstanding its danger, but ready to meet
It. ] saw that If I succeeded, the disei-
pline Of division ef the army was safe,
and the public service would be pro-
NOTED. On the other hand, saw that
il failed, it was only myself who would
be displaced.
did not, however, anticipate such
thing possible as that /, who was daily
exposing my life for the principles pro-
fessed, and thus giving what was once
considered reasonable proof Of sincerity,
could be successfully pursued as dis.
l0yai" by men who confined their acts
of loyalty to brave speeches 10 sale
places, and never exposed their fair skins
to the stain Of gunpower smoke or the
rent of bullet.
was mistaken I have paid in full the
penalty Of the mistake.
Very respectfully, your obed't servant,
trT RI.ES P STONE.