The Hartford herald., 1875-04-28

duty to truth, ] gave Col. johnson, at his
request, a brief eptome of the events then
Transporting a
j have no desire for controversy. I am
not politician and shrink at the noto-
riety which must attach to. the free discus
sion Of this affair; but having given my
statement. and being assailed by Gen.
Williams as a man of faulty memory.
without papers" am bound to appear
in my own defense, and however disa-
greeable the duty, L shall Try, to. give, in
fuller detail, the circunstanees. of the ide~
feat, rout and confusion at Rheatown.
II is not necessary 10 speak OF the gall
giant fight at Blue Springs on the day be-
tore, or the crushing of Fosters superior
force on the same morning because there
is no material division of opinion with
regard to these engagements, and no con-
flict Of memory or papers, but will only
treat Of what occurred subsequently and
particularly at about Ii o'clock on the
llth Of October. when Gen. Williams or
dered the command into camp at the scene
!, of the disaster. A''.
The force consisted of two brigades OF
cavalry, in all not more than eighteen
hundred men, under command Of Col. j.
E. Carter and myself, l, being the highest
in rank. and brigade ofihfantry, mum
bering about four hundred men, under
Gen A. E. Jackson. The latter command
after the engagement, at Fl Henderson's mill,
had been ordered off to, the right to con-
: tinue lis. retreat by a road running paral-
lei with our line and separated from us
by distance of several miles; so at Rhea.
town we had nothing but the cavalry and
. two small batteries ofartillery. The com
+ mand, retreatihg from a superior force
+ was ordered to halt in road just under
the. shadow of "a. range ofmonntains,
/ which divided our, line Of retreat from
that OF the enemy's pursuit. on oul
left, We had frequently seen the enemy
lin the. various gaps as we. passed up, and
! almost as soon as we halted at this place
Z a battery of the enemy was discovered il
Z "a gap Commanding our position. The at
: tshtion OF the whole armyI1was drawn tC
: it some time before it opened fire upon Ms
and am sure Gen, Williams was inform
/, led OF its existence, because T went to hiu
myself and said: "Gsn. Williams, Tue en,
!. eSin1St are, planting their artillery upon oul
!; Tleft aud will FIRE UPON uppo5n us in a fewa mo,
mehts,," " To which he replied: go anc
; plant your artillery, by God," 1 said (
Z him: "a. have no artillery; you ordered il
: to the front this morning" And he an,
|. swered: 81 did no such a damned thing.
/ discovered then that there was, some
!! Thing wrong with him. for the battery
! was then at the front, and he had parked
! it on the'left Of the road in small field
& Besides this, from our position beneath
/. the mountain it was utterly impossible fol
US to return the fire Of the enemy, thu
8 guns requling too great an elevation fol
, safety, and every spot being perfectly com
manded BY the enemy's battery. | lef
: him hopelessly and went back to my bri
: gade. The men were all mountet IN tn,
: middle Of a road, | believe inelosed OF
> both sides with a fence. l had hardly
4 reached my command when the enem,
I. Opened fire, and Capt. Henry Stanton
Gen. Williams chief OF staff, came to N,
E and said: HCol. GiIther,, you will have Il
y assume command OF this army, Tht
. General is not ID a condition to manage il
and its safety depends upon you" sal,
! to HIM: Captain, / can not take com
$ mand until Gen. Williams relnquishe
: it." '...;.'....'...,..... .... -..,
i then proceeded to execute Gen. Wi
lrams'1 order by moving my men int
t camp on the right. They had alread
/. dismounted, and was in the act Of goini
= to demonstrate with Gen Williams on til
" improperly OF going into campi in the fac
|. of the enemy, when Capt. B. w. Jenkins
: who was then acting on Gen. Williams
! staff, as aide-de-camp, galloped up TO m
q and said, Where are you goingT toll
: him was going TO see Gen Williams an
= try and prevail upon him to place hi
Is men in position TO defend themselves
% He said: "Weli, come quick. William
I is as drunk as hell, and you will have t
IL take care of your own men," L rode witt
n jenkins about one hundred yards, whe
Z heavy volley %as heard on our left an
'e the enemy charged into Carter's camp
It This produced the first stampede. Th
; Tennessee cavalry came with rush ap'
:. in utter disorder in our direction. | hui
. red back to my brigade, mounted it, an
r pushed back about three or four hundre
yards, where dismounted it again an
q formed line Of battle ID engage the enemy
B. had no chance to fight at the CAM
=, ground, and moved back to obtain posi-
!. ton and prevents a similar disaster to tha
d which had overtaken Carter. After form
lr ing, ! move forward and met the enemy
advance, aud checked them. We had
;, hot and close engagement here for near
Ell ly an hour, i iound the enemy rapid
3 reinforcing and pushing successfully NJ
:; on my TANKS. knew that / could nc
le hold the position but a short time. an
o rode back to select another to fall bac
upon. On my way to the rear,
: passed Gen. Williams, who asked m
G. where was going. | told him was o
y my way to select a position to fall bac
upon-that was being fanked, and coul
le not hold my present ground He ,sait
Is "Hold on, and will go with you.' di
=, not stop. but simply sand. ~ have no tim
:! to waste,' and rode on. Finding a pos
a ton in short distance. returned an
N again met Gen., Williams, who saiC
/. "Have you rejected position2" saiC
s. Il have and turning in my saddle,
e pointed out the place to him.. He the
- remarked to me; IF you send the arti
lery back will place it." sent bae
al the guns as soon as l reached the lin
X and in short time after withdrew tn
line and fell back with it. Gen. William
C. did place the artillery. found it in pc
sition when l came up, and formed m
men without delay, When, saw Geu
Williams again, he was living on his bac