Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1870-07-22
For the Yindicator.l
Lynchburg, July 10th. 1870

! Editor of the Stanton indicator
SIR Il have seen q letter from Mr..
John r. Lewis to you, in which lie refers to
a statement charging him with having given
me information to enable me to capture
Clusters force of cavalry at Weir's Cave in
1864. AS it might be presumed that the
information, on which the charge was made,
eliminated from me. and bcingalways willing
to give even the devil his due, l think it
proper to state, at once, that Mr. Lewis
gave me no information whatever. at any
time during the war, in regard to the enc
my and I have never intimatcd to any
one, either during or since the war, any
thing on which the charge in question could
be founded. At the time | was at Browns
Gap, in 1864, where Mr. Lewis residence
was, he was from home, and do not recol-
lect of seeing him at all during the war
except at Staunton in the winter 1868 r.
when he came to that place for the purpose
! of bringing some pig iron to be sent to
Richmond. AT that time, had a brief
| conversation with Mr.. Lewis, and this is the
sole interview, I have any recollection o.
of having had with him. from the time we
parted in Richmond as members of the
Convention. On the occasion of my seeing
him at Staunton, at the time mentioned,
after he had left me, Major Jones, of Eau
qulsr, who was the officer acting for the Or
dnance Department and the Nitre and
Mining Bureau, at Staunton, came to me
and informed me, that Mr.. Lewis had q
contract with the Ordnance Department at
Richmond to furnish pig Iron for the Gov
ernment, and that he had made another
contract with the Tredegar Iron Works
Company in violation of his contract with
the Ordnance Department, and was then
seeking to send some iron to the said COM
pany which properly belonged to the Gov
eminent He further stated that he had
received orders to prevent the iron from
being sent to the Tredcgar Iron Works, and
wished to know if would sustain him in
it, to which replied in the affirmative; and
the iron was stopped at that time. What
became Of 1t afterwards, do not know, as
I soon left the Valley for the army on the
Rapidan. Of the facts about the contract
[ knew nothing personally, but knowing
Major Jones, [ had no doubt whatever
about the entire accuracy of the information
given by him.
At the time made the attempt to cap
ture Custer's force at or near Weir's Cave,
the information acted upon was derived
from our own scouts and reconnaissance
made by our cavalry ard thought then
and still think, would have been able to
capture the whole force, or the greater part
Of it, if untimely intimation Of our position
had not been given by Brig. General Wick,
hams opening with artillery on the wagon
camp, in entire disregard of my positive in
structions Not only then is Mr.. Lewis en-
tirely innocent of laudable design to do
any harm to the Invaders of his State in the
matter referred to, but | have no hesitation
in expressing my conviction, formed from
information received while / was in the
Valley, and confirmed by his course since,
that he would have been much more ready to
give any information whatever to the ere
my, though that information might have
caused the beautiful Valley of his nativity,
from the head waters of South River, Chris
tian's Creek, and Middle River, to where
the Shenandoah turnblcs into the Potomac,
and from the summit Of the Blue Ridge to
that of the great North Mountain, to be con,
yerted into smouldering ruin and des-
olate, irrcclaimable waste, utterly unfit
for the habitation Of man OF beast, than to
have dropped a hint TO any one Oh our side
that would have led to the capture Of soil
tary enc of the invading horde and I have
been surprised that any living being liz the
Valley should have been Of a different opin-
ion, or hage given Mr.. Lewis credit for
ever having had a solitary patriotic impulse
from the beginning lie says that if he had
been at home, Sheridan would not have
destroyed his property. Ny recollection is.
| that il was Hunter who destroyed his Iron
Works, just before the battle OF Piedmont
Or New Hope, in June 1864, and | think l
can hardly be mistaken il this.
Yours very Respectfully,
j. A. EARLY.