The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1874-05-14
genera RraEE IntsrrIe.Eea.


Gen. Bragg was, the other day, inter
viewed by,a reporter of the st. Louis Gl06s,
on the subject, Of the battle of Chiclka-
manga and although he expressed an un-
willingness to go into details without re-
ferring to the notes he. had at home, con-
versed freely ON the subject. We make'the
following extracts from the report IN the
Gto6s, condensing aome Of the Generals
replies fs'-r5ij - l1l a,ft .I5ss.ld
Reporter-Do you think there could have
been any possibility Of capturing the Fed
eral army on Sunday night, had ron pura
sued differently line Of policy than youndid9
GeneTal-I do not know that any differ
emit plan Of battle could haYo been pursued.
Ny plan was to fight and ito pnshlthe en-
envy IS holly as it could be DONE My order
was to charge, aud R never eountermanded
the order. My men kept fighting and driv-
ing the enemy until 8 O'clock, and until it
was too dark to fight. Even then did
not order CESSATION; but the fact was, that
great darkness prevailed, land the country
was rugged and brokenin theextfeme, and
II would have been impossible to have kept
fighting under the circumstances. An army
could not fight an iIltrenched enemy when
twas so dark that nothing could be. seen.
To fight effectively, il Is quite essential to
IT,.
Sunday night ceased of itself, and Of a me-
cessity. fiEhagaf Tu 53Ias D.
Reporter-Had you -besn favored with
more daylight Is il pFobablelOF possible for
you to have eifected a capture of the Fed
eral army2
General--No,h sirs lido not think it either
probabls or possiblo Judging by ordinary
experience % roatss al Soi wa aisiss riso.
Reporter What number of men had
Voua sess sisl baa va t1F Q3 ai aeq q s2dal84
GeneFal--I went into the battle with
So, 900 troops. AZ vac a ~ eaan 90
Reporter how many. had the
eneuavRN 'ag trsA A l1 ~ ~ - sia A.iil0s
ee6sFal-- Basing MY estimate upon official
reports, statements Of prisoners, and news
paper accounts, / should judge, that the
enemy were two to one, or more. g1h 81
Heporter-The broken surface OF the
country, too, would have been great bar
rier IN the way Of such a thing, would It
volt - -, i,
Generaf-AIost certainly. The battlefield
was a succession Of rugged hills and deep
nxines, much like that of Shiloh. Phe
ground was exceedingly rough and broken,
and, besides, covered with thick under
growth Of scrubby bushes, and with clunps
Of small trees, making the passage very
difficult, and virtually preventing all regu-
aud systematic line bf march.
Reporter--Your lusses were reported to
be very heavy there. 1919
eieneral-ATy losses were very great in
proportion tgrthe number OF men L had.
Ny returns showed loss OF mora than
seventeen thousand men, or these, over
sixteen thousand we've killedand woundesk
9nt few Confederates were taken prisoners
The enemy's WIS also very great. according
% their official report.
.Reportcf- does Chicsamaugas com
pare TO other great battles in Which ,yoa
commanded or were engagedl "a
General--C hiekamauga was undoubtedly
the most holly contested Of any e was
iercer and more desperate light thah
shiloh. The enemy yielded their GROUND
with much less pertinacity than at the latter
light The great loss in killed and
wounded a Chiekanlauga viii show that il
Was = harder fought ield than others sff
The Seperal expressed the opinion that
Gen. Hood viii max an effort TO show that
Gen. Johnston Is in error ia some Of the
statements made Ia his book. and went ON
20 add that Gen. Hood thinks Il NECESSARY
% do this, and that he viii az an early tISv
publish . carefully prepared statemenl IL
way Of reply. .s,se