The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-12-19
cTONEWALL JACKSON
AT FREDERICKSBURG.
LETTER FROM
MAJOR GENERAL J. A. EARLY
nnrxNosnr11hE. ONTARIO, CANADA,

pRUMNcNDv1LLE, ONTARIO, CANADA, !
December 10, 1868.
Editors Sardnaah Morning Ne,os:
The communication to your paper over
The signature Of "a Virginian," in refer
once TO Pollard's statement that General
Jackson "once recommended night at
tack to be made by assailants stripped
naked and armed with Bowie knives" with
your comments, I have met with in an
ether journal, and I trust it viii not be
considered ootrusive on my part to make o
statement Of facts coming within my know
ledge, and going to show that there was no
foundation either for Pollard's statement
or that of your correspondent.
OF what little is left us there is nothing
which we ,nould guard with more care than
the sacr' ID memory of our fallen heroes
and ii the case of General Jackson it is
NOR necessary to protect his reputation
81 .ainst the commentaries of injudicious
friends than even the assaults of open enc
mics.
served under General Jackson from the
beginning of the battle of Malvern Hi to
his death, and I was personally present as
brigade or division commander in every
battle in which he participated during that
period from the beginning to the close Of
the engagements, except the battle Of Chan
cellorsville proper; at which time had q
separate duty assigned me at Fredericks-
bArg. served with him longer than any
other general officer of his command, and
was division commander in his corps
longer than any who survived the war. 1t
will therefore be seen that it is not inap-
propriate that should say something when
statements are ostentatiously put forth
which, however intended, are calculated to
bring discredit on the great and pure SOL
der and Christian who gave his life to his
country's defence.
/ have not seen Mr.. Pollard's article in
fritndm'S Monthly, and all know Of it is
what l see in the communication to your
paper, and your own comments. | can I'M
dertske to assert, with the most perfect con-
fdence, that General Jackson could not
have made such proposition as that men
toned by Pollard because it was moral
impossibility for him to have done it.
Gladiators, in ancient times, or the mem
hers of the prize-ring in modern times,
might strip for their brutal contests, but
there is n sentiment among all civilised
Christian people which would prevent q
decent man from being as brave when
stripped naked as when his nakedness is
concealed by his usual covering. A naked
sword is more terrible than q sheathed one,
but there is no reason why naked man
should be more terrible than well-clad
one: and certainly at the battle of
Fredericksburg, in the middle of De-
oembcr, q body Of naked ASSISTANTS
would soon have become so parslyzed
by the cold that the enemy would have
had no trouble in dealing with them. GEN
eral Jackson not only could not have made
so foolish, so absurd, proposition at Fred
ercksburg, or anywhere else, for these rea-
sons, but he could not have done it for the
simple and conclusive reason that at no
time we're the Bowie knives to be had. In
tue very beginning Of the war some men
carried with them into the service Bowie
knives, but they were never very plenty,
and the only military use | ever knew to
be made Of them was in aiding to throw up
q slight entrenchment the day after the
hight at Blackburn's ford, on Bull run.
After that time they were generally aban-
doned, or, if used at all, used only for
chopping beef. l don't think that in GEN
cral Jackson's entire corps enough could
have been found to arm one company, and
there we're certainly none in the ordnance
department.
Your correspondent states, as corrobora-
tive Of Pollard's statement, that at Frede-
ricksburg, on the night of the 18th of De-
cember, 1862, after the enemy's repulse, q
council of war was held by the Confederate
chiefs, at which General Jackson "sug-
gested that the artillery Of the First and
Second corps, his and Longstreet's, should
be collected upon the hills directly in front
Of the town, and a heavy fire opened upon
il, and that the men of his corps be stripped
TO the waist, to distinguish them from the
euemy, ana, under cover of the artillery
FIRE, force their way into the town and bay
ouet al who were not similarly attired."
This suggestion your correspondent says
was adopted but not carried out and he
further says ait was afterwards told by
men Of the Second corps that they had re-
ceived orders to strip TO their waist"
Your comments on Pollards statement are
very just, though you seem to concede
the correctness Of that of your correspond
ent. Not doubling the sincerity of your
correspondents belief in what he states,
yet, If he has no better authority for it
than the uncontradioted statement Of some
army correspondent, or a camp rumor, l
viii say that he has very bad authority.
There were numerous erroneous state
Melts which found their way into the
newspapers and went uncontradicted, as
there were many false reports in camp
which obtained credcnce sometimes even
from officers. General Lee never thought
IL consistent with his position to contra
uct any Of the many erroneous statements
lOt atioat during the war, and he dis
outraged everything OF the kind on the part
o. HIS officers. | knew his views on that
subject, because on one occasion, when had
corrected q misStatement Of q correspond
entn regard to some Of my own operations,
ne gave me, privately, O gentle rebuke,
which disclosed his own views and effectu-
ally prevented lie from repeating the indis-
trenon. The reasons which govern mill
@fy men, especially such military men as
4 'eheraiS Lee and jackson, are very differ
Z el' from those which govern politicians IN
QeaIing with newspaper statements. No
4 Ting, therefore, is to be inferred i'll favor
=" the truth of an anonymous statement IN
regard to the military operations IN the
army Of Northern Virginia because 1t has
gone unc0ntradicted.
4he statement of your correspondent, II
"ue, shows either that General jackson
j proposed 10 commit very great biuncer,
4 Or that General Lee was guilty Of an IN
l"Taonable negligence.
thlnk there is az little truth IN that
s nna I1en as there is in the one made by
t"!ard and will state the following facts
,ut, I ~ IL.