The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-08-20
A Searching Criticism Of Rothcrmci's
Battle of Gettysburg.

To tie EttttOrS OF the DtSpdtch:
Gentlcmcn,- your issue OF this morn
in" find an article under the above caption
winch processes to criticisc (unlustly, ]
think II communication from Colonel W..
W. Wood. one of our State commissioners
to the Philadelphia centennial celebration,
which was published in Il late issue Ut your
paper, and which seemed TO me to breathe a
spirit OF justice and impartlalty.
! confess fail TO see where the "scorch-
ina" comes in. IT." Wee" knows anything OF
the facts he knows very we'll that the sou;h-
ern troops, though brave as lions, were also
both ragged and dirtv-the necessary con-
sentence of their nasty marches and heroic
movements in battle-were powdcr-be-
grimmed and covered with dust, neither OF
Which is counted either disgrace or cause
If reproach. The Federal troops bad Just
been newly clad, and, though not exactly IN
drawjnr-rOom presentability in consequence
Of the dust and smoke of battle, were, rs they
ouuht TO have been under those circum-
stances. both cleaner and better clad than
their antagonists. But who Except wee y
would imagine that troops finding them.
selves repulsed and with no hope Of success
could or would wear Il look of triumph.
The writer hereof, who was Federal
officer during the war, knows from his own
experience that no look of triumph flashes
| from the eyes, CLEANS upon the countenance,
or springs from the heart of a defeated SOL
| der. He has been there, and "knowS how
| il is himself; has fled before Il triumphant
| foe; aud even before he turned to flee, know
ing he was overlnatChed. could not well help
expressing his chagrin in his countcnance us
he felt it in his heart and along every nerve
| in his body. If wee" has ever been in
battle he knows that while the victor is
brimtul and running over with enthusiasm
and bursting for wild hurrah, the defeated
| party don't cntSuSe worth Il cent. You
could neither coax nor drive cheer from
them for the time being. | do not think
wee was member of the gallant Stone
| wall brigade nor of pckett's division OF
brave and heroic men who bid defiance to
the fierce storm Of shot and shell and the
cleaning bayOnet on Gettysburg's bloody
field, or he would be less sensitive. They
were both ragged and dirty rs well as brave
and fearless.
The writer hereof, rs a northern man, an
eN-soldicr of the Union army, denies that al
the North Southern gallantry is deilneated
on canvas with mean and cowardly ylsage,
| or that their (Ourl treason is published III
the epitaphs of (our) their dead heroes" and
denouDccs such foolish. captious tault.fnd-
ing as that of "Vec.' unsupported by facts,
us one of the causes of continued alienation
between the people of the North and the
| South, Truth and consistency should be
delineated upon canvas and recorded In
print. Thus will the animosities engender'
ed by. the war be removed and we become,
as we should be, one RELATED people.
Yours, &c, ADOPTED CITIZEN.
| lNote.--The author OF no communication
which appears in this paper is responsible
for the heading of it unless the words 6 For
the Dispdtch,D or some such words. precede
the heading. Every journalist and every
man WHO writes for the press ought TO know
this. The headings are Of course the al.
thol's when the words For the Dispatch
or +" Correspondence Of the Dispatch" do
come before the heading. Editors Dispatch.