The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1880-09-04

Irlenu NJ uOtne. " Will w Aouuu quilo III
teresting reading;
HONG kong, July 20, 1880.
B. L. FLETCHER, Esq.
DEAR SIR: have just received your letter
informing me that Mr.. Vest, of Missouri, had
recently charged in the United States senate
that my command fought under the black
flag and was not recognized by the confeder-
ate government. If Mr.. Vest made any such
statement he simply said what he and every
body else knew to be lie; he would never
have dared to utter the calumny if he had
not known that the man whom he slandered
was on the opposite side of the globe;
There were dozen senators on the floor
who served with me in the army of North
ern Virginia and knewth the charge to be false,
they did not have the chivalry to defend me
or, rather, the fair frame of our army, because
with them the interests of party are stronger
than the interests of truth. No man who
had the courage to face us in the fight, or
whom the fortunes of war made prisoner in
our hands, has ever made such an accusation
against US. 1t is true that my MOTORS OF war
were not senti mental, and that did not look
upon it as tournament or pastime, but as
one of the most practical of human under
takings; l learned the maxims on which |
conducted it from Napoleon and from Wal
ter Scott. You may remember that some of
our fiercest fighting was with the California
chiyilry battalion, which was stationed in
Washington. When l was in San Francisco
on my way here, some fifteen or twenty of
the officers called on me in body to pay
their respects and to talk over the battles we
had lost and won. They would hardly have
done so if, as soldier, | had not observed all
the rules of honorable war My command
which was the Forty.third battalion of
Virginia cavalry-was Just as much regu- !
lsrly organized portion of the confederate
army as the "Stonewall Brigade" The
confederate records contradict everything
that Vest said. l served nearly the whole
of the first two years of the war as aprivate in
the cavalry and then rose to the rank of col
onel, having received five promotions on the
of General j. Il. Is. Stuart
and General r. Z. Lee, under whose lmme-
date order acted. Their dispatches attest
the estimation in which they held me as we'll
as the value they put uponm my, services; be-
sides l had the rare honor OF being men
toned for good conduct three times In gener-
al orders to the army. There was no officer
in that army in Closer or more conndenual
relations with those two great soldiers than
l was and reported to them everything that
did. If any oiium, therefore, attaches to
me or nv men they must share it equally
with us. General Lee never reproved me
but once. On one occasion, when disabled
from duty by wound, went to see HIM at
his Headquarters near Petersburg. When
he saw me approaching him on my crutches
he came forward to meet me and SAID: "Col-
onel. [ have never had but one fault to lind
with YOU. You are always getting woun-
1ed' If any man ever received any nlgher
encomium from him than this, history
makes no mention of it. About six weeks
before the surrender i dined with him at
Headquarters and shall never forget the atiec-
donate manner in which he took leave OF me
and cautioned me against any unnecessary
exposure to danger. received great many
orders from him in his own handwritlng--he
yery rarely sent me one through stan officer.
The last order ever received from him was
,ne ass;snino me to the command of the
whole district of Northern Virginia. This
was the position held when the mourntul
,idings came that "Young Harry Percy's
spur is cold" fyou wish to know the de,
tails of the organization ofmy command and
Is relations to the main body of the conted-
crate army, refer you to the memoir 6y
Scott. If YOU further desire to know the
Judgment of an intelligent foreigner, who
;eryed in the union army, of my character as
, soldier and the efficiency OF my command,
refer YOU to the history by the Count OF
Paris Of the civil war in America.
Asyou no are doubt awarel have diiieredi,o on
,uestions of public policy with large MAJOR
Nv of the people of the south since the close
Il the war. Every confederate soldier who
ms dared to do this has been treated as q de-
;erter in war, deserving to be shot. Inc
'onth has initiated Saturn Ia devouring his
,wn ch;IJren No amount of service or de-
,otion to lis cause during the war is admitted
% extenuate the ofense Of detying Tue uoniI-
lant sentiment of the section since tne war
Il was for this reason that WADE hamPtoh'
,y whose side 1 have often followed me
plume of Stuart in the front OF the oa.iie,
,ould sit silently in his seat ana permit .n,s
uttered by man who was vas. nimseli
. confederate, to go unrebuked. But | am
,ot the only soldier of ''the lost cause whose
it has been thought necessary 70
acriace to crafty the rancor OF party spirit:
General Longstreet- in the last scene OF
he last drama might have said, with slmost
3 much truth as Ney did on the frozen
banks of the Beresina, 81 am the rear guard
# the grand army"-has been discovered, to
lave been no soldier at all, and one OF his
rites, who was never distinguished for any
hing except habit he had of always keep
NO where there was no danger OF getting
lurt, has accused him of treachery at Gettys-
,urg, while he WAS himself during the battle
n the rear with the baggage train, AS {
4ongstrees is new Republican and his
,reat antagonist on that eventful field is the
Democratic candidate for the presidency,
lave no doubt that before the close OF the
campaign the southern people will be per,
us,ed to believe that it was Hancock and
not Longstreet who led the Virginians IN
ha, immortal charge that will forever rank
hem on glory's page with those who won the
rophies of Marathon and Thermopyle.
Very truly yours, JNo. s. MosBr.