Daily Los Angeles herald., 1879-06-01
LOS ANGELES. SUNDAY MORNING. JUNE L 1879.

Texas Rangers, under the COM
mand of Col. Ford, accompanied by
Judge Terry as Texas State Com
missioner, would soon be In
Brownsville, where I had concen.
trated my command, and that there
was no time to be lost, 1 issued an
order to Captain Stoneman, direct
Ing him to
GET OUT OF TEXAS
At the very earliest moment, by
any means and In any manner he
might think 1t advisable, and re.
port with his command to the
headquarters of the army. Accord
ingly Capt. s. seized the first
steamboat he could get hold Of and
reached Indlanola In time to meet
a Government transport, which
took his whole command, yIa Key
| West and Havana, to New York,
whence he was ordered to Carlisle
Barracks, Penn where they were
remounted In season to reach
Washington and act as the cavalry
advance to the forces that crossed
Long Bridge on the night Of the
ever-memorable 23d OF May, 1851, to
tread the sacred soil Of old Vir-
glnia. We subsequently learned
that for US there had been but q
few hours TO spare, and that Col.
Backus, who declined to leave with
US without orders from superior au-
thority, was, with his whole COM
mand, captured and paroled by the
Texas Rangers coon after our de-
parture.
FIGHTING JOE HOOKER OVER
The most overrated man who
came to the surface during the war,
was Joseph Hooker. Boastful,
pompous and concelted, he
had by blowing his own
trumpet and surrounding him.
self with such newspaper oorrespon-
dents as George Wilkes, Of the
Spirit of the Times, succeeded In
gaining considerable notoriety as a
subordinate commander and the
soubriquet of "Fighting Joe," of
which title he was inordinately
vain. General Burnside asserted
In his celebrated Order No. s, that
he was guilty Of unjust and unnec-
essary criticisms of his superior
officers and of the authorities; that
he endeavored to create distrust In
the minds of officers with whom he
associated; that he made reports
and statements calculated to ere.
ate incorrect impressions, and that
habitually he spoke in disparaging
terms OF other officers, and de-
n0unced him as unfit to hold an
important commission. Truer
words were never written. Gener-
al Burnside stated, as he says, over
and over again to the President
and Secretary of War, that he him.
self was not competent to com.
msnd so large an army, but If
there was any one man more unfit
for its command than he, that man
was Joseph Hooker.
GOLD PAP sAFETY.n
Could all our armies have been
commanded by such men as that
noble old Roman, or, as the soldiers
affectionately called him, "Old Pap
straightforward Geo. HI. Thomas
who never lost o battle or use
lessly sacrificed q human life, our
national cemeteries would to-day
contain far fewer occupants and
the country many more valuable
citizens. This, however, was not
to be expected; as the material of
which such men are made Is very
scare and hard to find. It is but
charitable to suppose that we all
did the best we could, and perhaps
we builded better than we knew.
1t i'll becomes the General Of the
Army 10 sneer at political generals,
as the question very naturally
arises, Where would he be now but
for the achievements Of other men
and the aid OF an influential polit-
ical brother welding the patronage
Of great and important State?
THE REFUGEE.
A very common question we had
to deal with during our raids was
that connected with the negro
refugee. Crowds of these poor
creatures, of both sexes and all
ages, would follow in our wake,
and not being able to keep up with
our rapid night marches, they
would fall by the way to be recov.
cred by their owners.
In the early part of the war, each
man was compelled to furnish his
own substitute, and pay for him
out of his own pocket or go himself.
During the latter part, some OF the
States, taking advantage of the
action of the Government in en-
ploying negro troops. came to the
conclusion that 1t was better to buy
q negro than to furnish white
man.
GATHERING IN THE CONTRABANDs.
These States therefore sent agents
all through that portion of the
South overrun by our armies for
the purpose of securing negroes, to
be mustered into the service as
a portion Of the quotas of
troops to be furnished by the
States they represented. Some-
times several hundred negroes
would succeed In making their es-
cape aud following a raiding expe-
dition out of the Confederacy.
Scarcely would they reach our lines
ere they would be met by an agent,
with his papers all ready, who
would take possession of them,
have them mustered into the
service and assigned to regiment,
secure his certificate from the mus
tering officer and draw hjs warrant
on the treasury of his State
To be O Massach nscl, soldier did
not necessita'a hia oeiue 1assa-