The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-12-03

ting to "crush" him. Marching over thirty
miles the first day to prevent Fremont and
Shields from uniting in his rear at Strasburg,
ne then retreated up the Valley, his rear
and TANKS being protected by the ubiquitous
Ashby, whose deeds of skill and daring.
though forgotten in this so-called "historr."
will live in the annals Of true patriotism rs
long rs the Blue mountains stand or the
Shenandoah flows along its pebbly way.
Mr.. Swinton says that "the Union forces
could not head hin, off," but he forgets that
Fremont caught him ut "Cross Keys" and
that on the next day Shields caught him at
Port Republic; and that both OF them be-
came so thoroughly persuaded that they
bad "caught Tartar" that they retreated
down the Valley again, united with "Mr.
Quartermaster Banks" Qrom whom our
boys had drawn" what they needed in
the way Of suppies), and were busily en-
gagged entrenching at Strasburg against an
expected advance Of Jackson on the very
day on which Stonewal and his vcte.
rams joined Lee in those grand
victories before Richmond which compelled
the " Young Napoleon" to "change his
base y; or, to sum up, Jackson had ip thirty
two days marched nearly four hundred miles,
skirmishing almost daily, fought five battles,
defeated three armies, two Of which were
completely routed, captured about twenty
pieces OF artillery, some four thousand pri-
soners and immense stores of all kinds, and
had done all this with a loss of less than one
Thousand men killed, wounded, and missing
a very considerable "raid," one would say.
PasslnS by numerous errors in his account
Of the seven days battles, we come next to
his version of the battle of "Cedar Noun
tain "(age 262) )-"C Cedar Run mountain !" is
the correct nalne--in which he says: "Bauks
was able to hold Jackson in check for some
time but when the main Confederate force
arrived, Banks had to retreat"
Now, the truth is that the "main Con.
federate force" under General Lee did not
join Jackson for some days after he had
whipped Banks with the whole of Pope'S
army ht his back-whipped him SO badly
that he drove him over two miles, and the
"quartcrmaSter was compelled to ask for q
flag of truce to bury his dead. There was a
bitter quarrel between Banks and Pope as to
who was responsible for bringing on this
battle. If they have not yet settled it, they
had better cul in General Early as "um.
pire," as the writer happened to be present
when that sturdy soldier received from Jack.
son the laconic order, "Adyance on the
enemy" and sent back the characteristic re-
ply. " Tell General Jackson lgiU do it' ;
and witnessed the splendid style in which
Early's brigade, with the Thirteenth Vir-
ginia in front as skirmiShers, opened the
fight.
Passing by his account of how Pope was
"orcrwhclmed d" Mr. SWinton associated
so much with the Federal generals, whom
he was accustomed to puff, during the war
that he has caught the fuvorite expressions
with which they covered their detcatSl we
come next (pagc 1863 10 his story of Sharps-
burg, or Antictam, in which he says "Thc
combat ragged all day; but the Union army
held the ground, and Lee was compelled TO
recross the Potomac into the Shenandoah
valley"
Now, happen to have heard General
Lee say once in reference to this battle" We
held the chief part Of The battlefield, and
remained IN line all Of The nert day, expect
ing, and IN tacthoping for, an attack. BIT
as ii ,caS not mate, and as The enemy lrcre
1eceicing grsintorcementS, Thich re could not
hope for, thought ii most prudent 10 piHt-
lrd,c the nert night, and accordingly did so
General Lee also states in his official re.
port that we had in this battle "lcss than
forty thousand" and General Early has con-
shown that at the beginning of the
battle General Lee had only fifteen thousand
men; that on the left and left.ccntrc Jack.
son with only eighteen thousand men sue
ceSsfulIy resisted repeated attacks made by Il
force Of .ttty-Sir thousand and ninetyJtce
men; and that General Lees entire force OF
all arms during this great battle was really
less than thirty Thousand men.
On the other hand, Mcclellan in his Off
cial report places his own numbers actually
engaged at eiJhty-Sercn thousand one han
dred and Sirty.t0ur.
Examples multiply, and must pass by
some of the most glarng errors of this book
until we come TO the Gettysburg campaign
fpage 267}, in his account Of which Mr..
Swin.on strangely omits all mention OF
EweirS capture of Winchester, With 4,0OC
prisoners, 90 pieces Of artillery, 400 wagons,
1900 horses and mules. aud immense guam
titles OF stores OF every descriptions: and o.
the first days battle Of Gettysburg, wher
Evell and s. ?. Hill whipped Reynolds Sc
badtv, driving bin lei!-me!l through the
town and cs;2::...--;:3 st-a.i: 300 prisoners.
Fl. rl3tss =. C,s--..t.s<::s rzie loss !; Getty
burg 1t = oser G.ie9. sl~Ha<*;zas a S!os. eS.
acknowledgements. u. :;-:::, : = -. at.r-s
loss, which was --0t1 c:tn..t-- ---i.:l 2i,:s SGt
saws Lee TegTe-.:s>i aa.ec ~: c;s.:.r- - ~
crossed the Shen-: rl:c-ss.. lEc-. Il .::ssE-i -
slightest mention o. iae ;sEs+,z1assI 'Atcs 'SaA
he remained in line oi e'A:'re 81 t,a--: >s.:'.-::
for over twenty-four hour> aEe- TX sz:s:a.'
Of his attack on the heights. tbs: - tss. t'ATs
very deliberately, aud At Hasec>;oNa Il:
several days threw down the gaze OF battle
which Meade did not dare 10 accept. III
also omi!> 10 mention that Meade had II
,N,siiou al Gettysburg over one hundrec
thousand men. while Lee had on that tel'
considerably less than sixty thousand.
The shn>t must suffice rs specimens OF
,., character " This "hi>;rry." which oul
Es,nu,,n,; >c,,t>>>i E>sui puts into the hand
~ ,u,r children, The examples can he mul
liul;c,. a,:.n,,. ,,,:s:aStciv. tor gross error
rum thsyt;sa 3sso v..;, mAsi> and weni ot th'
Whole t.>~,. ;,..s ! ..,:asi ~. tr}siin more q
Your st~sr>
In ,>,utl,s>ix>a. M7,>,s svss><ti!;4ls s>A Tia
the ,utrltscus i%,t,S+s NJ 4" ,12ssNaA 'eTit
tho s,atcu,tuts tis,v e:s.3s> sss5' i'at. s't''>
who have ANY A,.:.4esA.. "aa 7's St'f'S'
Board Will hrfns {: Il, ''s.s;r ssfs' lass 'NNa'
may be hauslNN iSN>sa T>s'f ~'Ss,~'H,
J. NssaaAa .i,>+$,
Ri0,lond. Dccrnecr /,
=. S.-Decembar 2a.--).sss IS I sm Aar
rying to the der6t have seen. eut have ent,,
had time to sketch, the reply Of Hon. \. VI
Kelley to my first communication. | cas
only promise now that it shall have my earl!
attention-that if he has made good nj;
points will cheerfullv acknowledge it-bu
that shall certainly look into the matter
little closely before can be convinced tha
this Yankee book is the best for our south
ern youth TO learn. J. W. J.
AUCTION SALES THIS DAY.