Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1879-08-08

history:
jackson had struck the Valley pike at
twelve miles south of Winchcs-
ter,-along which large body of Federal
cavalry with many wagons, was fastening
North. lie attacked nj once with his hand,
full of men. overwhelmed resistance and
captured prisoners and wagons.
The cavalry was from New England y
section in which craftsmanship was an I'M
known rt-and some of these ccntaIlrs were
strapped To their stccds. Ordered Ia dis 1
mount. they explained their condition. ami
were given time to unhuchlr. Many breast .
plates and other protective devices were seen
here. and later at Winchester We did not |
know whether the Fcderals had organized
cuirasSiers. or were recurring To the GUS
toms of Gustavus Adolphus. saw poor
fellow living dead ON the pike pierced
through hrcastplatr AMI body by rifle
ball
The cavalry force alluded Ia was llatch's
brigade of cavalry, which formed a part of
Gen Bankss ARMY. The First Vermont
Cavalry was one of the REGIMENTS of that
Brigade.
Capt j. A. Judsan wiin WAS G,.n. llatch's
assistant adjutant-g general, took up this state
ment pretty sharply in the New York Nd-
ton of July 10Th last, pron"un,ing it "A
malicious and silly ialsehonl ma,ic out of
whole cloth" lie said of it.
All this pronounce absolutely false, even
when General TAYLOR asserts, as he does, that
these things are what he himself sur.
There WAS no one officer or man, III the
cavalry of Banks's army, or in any part OF
Ranks's army, who Wore AT that time or any
other time ''breastplatcs and other protective
devices" or anything that could, by the re-
motcst probability, possibly give the most
careless observer the impression that any
such thing WAS worn or thought of. When
General Taylor says he ''sd1 a poor fellow
lying dead on the pike, pierced through
6redstplGtt and body by riilc-ball, he states
what he knew TO he a deliberate falschood.
| am quite well aware this is strong Ian
guage but 50 is General Taylor's, and this is
a case deserving heroic treatment. That it
may he seen | was in position TO. know,
NAV say al once that was present and on
duty through this whole campaign as the
adjutant- general of IIatch's brigade of cav
airy, which comprised all the cavalry in
Banks's army 1t would have been impos-
sible for a single man to have worn breast
plate or anything that looked like breast
plate without my knowledge. The officers
and men wore the ordinary uniform which
all the rest of the | nitcd States forces wore,
first andlast and nothing more, nothing less,
Except that three of the nine regiments
composing orr unusually large brigade were
from New England. every word Of this
Gen. Taylor's statement is absolute false
hood, without shadow of foundation, and
Twas cut " by General Taylor - out of whole
cloth" No officer or man, no bugler boy
even in the whole command was erer
% strapped to his steed, at any time, for any
purpose whatever. Every man sat and rode
in his saddle. and mounted and dismounted
as occasion required. much as other people
do, and quite as well, no doubt, as did Gen
TAYLOR or any of the other numerous rebels
in arms who to this day have very lively re-
collections of IIatch's Cavalry" Any
man To- day who served in 1862 in the cayal-
~ opposed 10 us, commanded by that gal
liant rebel leader, Colonel Ashby (who was
himself killed in a fight with our brigade,
will agree with me in saying that the sharp
chascs We sometimes gave them, as they, in
turn, gave us, were not made by men TO
whom horsemanship was an unknown art.
1t is undeniable that our cavalry i'll 1867 was
not SO effective AS that arm Of service alter
ward proved itself (nor was any other part
of the army for that NATTER but detective
Craftsmanship was no part of our dctclencIes.
People in the North certainly do not ride
horseback as universally as they do South,
and for the good reason that rs we here are
half century in advance of most OF that
region in civilization, rs 4 consequence among
other things we have good carriage
roads everywhere where We haven't steam
transportation, 50 that horseback riding, save
US a recreation, is unnecessary. Still, out OF
the cities, and particularly among the farm
ers, the men and boys are all familiar with
horses, and as much at home on their backs
as any Southerner. All the regiments of our
cavalry brigade but one were country organl-
cations. and the whole command had been
well drilled in riding rs well rs in other
matters before taking the field at all. The
single city regiment. the Fifth New York
Cavalry was, singularly enough, an cXcep-
tionally fine and effective cavalry reg ment.
Nor am sure that all of the troopers were
city men. My impression is that several of
the companies were from the country round
ah3nt New York city.
To show what utter nonsense this Is OF
General Tayior's at the risk of tedousness
give the list of the organizations composing
our brigade, by which any one may judge,
from whence the men came. whether they
were people likely 10 he found strapped to
their steeds'':
Fifth New York Cavalry, commanded by
Colonel u. DE Forest First Vermont Cav
airy, commanded by Colonel Charles ii.
Tompkins; First Michigan Cavalry, COM
manded by Colonel Brodhead; First Maine
Cavalry, commanded 10y Lieutenant Colonel
Doty; First Rhode Island Cavalry, com
manded by Colonel I.awton First Virginia
Cavalry, commanded by , and composed
Of loyal West Nirginians; First Maryland
Cavalry, commsnded 10y -, and com
posed Of loyal Narylanders First
Cavalry" recruited along the bank
of the Potomuc. besides the Eighth
New York Cavalry, which III that lime had
not received its mount, and hence took no
mart in the campaign The whole was COIN
mnndea ,y Brigader- General John Z. Hatch,
United States Volunteers, at that tim" a cap
tain in the Mounted iiihae now the Third
United States Cavalry ami al r.-scnt The
lieutenant colonel of the Fourth miei
States Cavalry, who since 1915 has been
distinguished cavalry officer IN the regular
army of the United States
Colonel Brodhead was killed at the head
of his reginle,.i at the second battle OF Bull
Run Colonel LaWiUu AID Colonel DE Forest
have died since the war CGiOhbl Doty, |
understand, is still living, and Colonel Temp
kins Is nov a lieutenant colonel and one oil
the deputy quattSTmastcr-gcncra oil Inc
army The other colonel. have forgotten
entirely, even their very names ii is 50 long
ago, but these surviving commanders OF lhs
lto,ps together with General Hatch Will, |
have M d0,M cOrroboratc all have said.
look upon tiis ;2lntter as an unwar-
ranted attack upon uig -G,derly honor
una military character OF iii. rrssilant
brigade, uni i. have taken the trouble to
write this not for ,ns purpose, in turn, OF
assaling the memory Of General Taylor
but rather because duty 10 my comrades re
uuif.a that truth should he substituted on
the record is, what cannot but regard as
malicious al silly falsehood. Others may
not attach 10 tn, the iInrsaiance do. or
would, at least, pass it by l.. "outeinff' sli
the exposure of these falschoods o. ''ei!efhi
Taylor's al this late day is in one sense time
ly, since it serves to brand with suspicion
every statement he makes in his recent aston
ishing book entitled Destruction and Re
construction Personal Experiences Of the
Late War"
1t is TO he presumed were General Taylor
still living, he would attempt proof Of the
statements quoted, since hr was at such
pains TO give them uttcraucc. II would,
however be interesting To know if any of
his fellow rebels now living who were with
him in the Valley campaign "l 1852 also saw
any Yankee Cavarymcn, dead or alive, in
" breastplatcs or other protective devices
or any Yankee cavalymcn strapped 10
their stccds"
Respectfully your~, j. \ .Jrn-"N,
late Capt. and Asst. Adjt Gen. t. :. N"l-.
Newport, K. l., June -, 1879
Now, there is such . thing rs heingtuop"s-
tive. even when one is pretty sure he knows
all about what he is talking about Capt.
,Iudsnn's denial that any manin this brigade
er1 was strapped Ia his horSr for any
purpose" stands thus far uncoutmdicicd
though how hc could know So much as that
we do not See but he was strangely out of
his reckoning about The breast plates and was
ut once corrected 10y several correspondents
of tho NJItpu = " 'IlaNt,r ,F p,rtIaud