The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-01-28
s;epcraI Joseph r. Johnston Defenas
sEfInSeIE.
SAvAxxAH. December 81, 1874.

A -
n, ~. J,rGih,n DiriSion Ct The dissertation
-, f1,c Aiuy Of Northern Virginia:
!, thr oyalion delivered by Colonel Mar.
.L.Il d, your fourth annual meeting | am
.r,,,.ed Of as>alling the fame Of General Lee
y, n, ,r,, Messages Of 4 book published by NE
i,., .Drjng. As a~Nirgiuan BY birth, and
",.,.rialIy as a southern soldier who once
s..,,uI I'm the army O! Northern Virginia,
,.. ro, disposed to leave uncontradicted such
49,. cessation, made TO ,uch an audience.
pr,.> Of business and sickness made me un;I-
h.. 10 defend myself until nov.
The Inst Of the three passages on page
1t,t.:" About noon" Sunday, June 1st,)
:. .,,,rrr.t! Lee was assigned 10 the command
T., il. Army OF Northern Virginia by the
President. and at night the troops were Or
t.r,ui 5y him to return TO their camps near
nirlu.oud. y hlch they did soon after day
hru,E Npudgy.'' Colonel Marshall contra
,jif- This statement. asserting that General
Ir, w., assigned 10 that command on the
81 Of June.
Wv statement WAS founded on the best
,,furncc-that Of intelligent 1en OF honor
General aud Statf officers OF the army, lnclud.
il. General Lee himself.
Being in Richmond from the 1st Of june
until after tho" " Scvcn.day>' lighting, was
visited hy some Of those officers daily, and
kent informed OF the coulSc OF military
events. beginning with the Presidents as
>i.nncnt of General Lee to the command OF
The army. sunday, June Isl, and his aSsum-
irg il that afternoon. The only two OF
those Gentlemen who have communicated
with me on the SUI jrct remember these cir.
crlm,,auccS-Co Colonel f. j. Harvie and Colo
mel 4. II. Cole. staff officers in daily inter
course With General Lee. General McLaWs,
tlrn Il N4jor-Geucral in that army, was one
ui 4 party of superior officers informed by
General q. W. smith, in General Lees pre-
>,..,r, that The latter had assumed command
Of iAr army, and ordered the return of the
troops 10 their camps during the coming
nj.Mt. This was sunday. June 1St
Genera: McLawS is now in Savannah.
4 note from General Lee 10 Mrs. Johnston
dated near Richmond, June 2d, is now in
our house. in which, after referring to my
b,ius disabled, he wrote: 'ln the mean
tinr the President has thought ii necessary
til; should take his place" This note was
delivered Al the house Of Mr.. Joseph Cren-
saw, Richmond. in which we were guests,
about O'Clock 4. NJ. June ID, and there
fore must have been written near sunrise.
In letter ION page 800, "reminiscences Of
& neral Lcc) dated also June .. 1862, the
General wrote: Il am sorry to say
tint General Johnston was wounded
Saturday evening. Not seriously. | am
todd; bat when | left Richmond yes
.,rGay the extent of his wound was
not known. | am now in the field again.
THc wound Of General Johnston obiging
him to leave it, rendered it Necessary. in the
",inion Of the President, that should take
BIZ place" The note proves that General
Lee WAS commanding the army about sun.
rise on the I'd. SO that command could not
have been conferred that day. And the let
ter shows that he was in command on the I'd
and left Richmond on the 1,t to join the
army. And both fully confirm the testimony
ot General McLpwS. Colonel Ilarvie, and
Colonel Cole. and rctute Colonel Marshalfs
assertion that General Lee assumed com,
mand of the army on the 3D. ofJune.
In cmcrgcucie, the President gave orders
directly, orally or by telegraph, rs the case
might be. such orders sometimes were,
ana sometimes were not, published by the
Aaiutant- General. | WAS placed in com.
nan1 Of the army at Yorktown by the Pre-
>d.n's verbal order, addressed to me.
In December, 1868. was ordered by the
President, bv telegraph, to take command OF
The army at Dalton. If the Adjutanr-Gcneral
ever published either of these orders the fact
never came TO my knowledge. The Presi-
dent also removed me from the laSt-mcn-
toned position by a telegraphic order-and
til, order traS published in Richmond-the
day after II had been executed near Atlanla,
however. These Instances show that the
order given 10 General Lee by the President
on The lst Of June may have been published
hy the Acknowledgement on the Sd. But
whether so published or not the evidence
III support of my statement is incontro-
N,rtlbic.
The second passage, on page 141, is this !:
CATER ui.httall Saturday the two bodies of
Federal troops were completely separated
from the two corps Of their right beyond the
thlchahominy by the swollen stream, which
AHd swept away their bridges; and Sum-
HcT's corps, at Fair Oaks, was six miles
from those OF HeintZelman and keyes, which
Were near BOttOu's bridge. But the Con-
irdcratc forces were united in front and on
the lett lllnk Of Summers corps. Such adj
vantage Of position and superiority Of num-
hcr> would have enabled them TO defeat
ihlt corps had the engagement been renew
cl sunday morning before aid could have
come from UclniZeinan after which his
t!cniZcIman's) troops, in the condition to
which the action OF the day before had re-
0uced them, could not have made effect ual
resistance
Colonel Marshall alleges that the passage
.iu>t quoted, and the assertion In previous
one that General Lee was put in command
"i The army about noon Sunday, charges the
southern hcro with misconduct. This allie
galOn il groundless. The assertion that
There was an opportunity 10 defeat the eue-
luy III the beginning of the day does not i'm.
Ply that il continued until the end of the day.
In the morning the Federal troops would
have been found in the confusion and separa.
upn produced by the action OF the day be-
lore. Aud II We had attacked them the ad.
'antugcs would all have been on our side.
hut III The aternooD, ten or twelve hours
later, Heihlzeiuan's and keyes's corps were
probably rCOrganlzed, rltluiled, and in con.
At'il0h with Sumncrs-and perhaps REIN
ioiccQ and entrcnched. Therefore my Ian
Sua@c cannot be distorted into censure OF
General Lee, or reflection OH his conduct.
Colonel Marshall asserts that the adyan. |
'sSes GAINED by me on page 14l Quoted !
"bo'e) were not known Sunday morning, |
Aoi lor several days after. We had no GER |
I1I knowledge OF the condition Of the ene- |
NY bridges, but had reason TO believe that |
.ueTc was no practicable crossing between
Tie New aud Bottoms bridges. And our
40 tdPantaSes OF position and numbers were
lAiiy Known 10 be As described, except that
We old not know precisely how far Heiptzel-
mans and keyes corps had been driven.
l1 "as known, however, thut they had gone
~ lar 10 be able to come to Summers aid ifI
ls had beer attacked promptly. And be-
'Ides, Hill was in position TO prevent their
Interference With al attack upon Sumner,
Us troops being in line across She Williams