The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-03-16
published letter of General Garfield had
been read BY him said:

published letter of General Garfield had
been read by him said:
"Yes, regret to say that it has. l re-
gret that it was ever written that any
body could read it. 1t does discredit to
the memory of dead man, for it is a
mixture of untruths and misTepreseDt-
atiOns. | am not prepared to say that
General Garfield did not write it. Pos
sibly and probably he did. 1 shall
write and find out whether it is genuine
OF not. But what do you think of a
man who held such a position as that
filed by General Garfield who could
blacklist treachery to one who had al
ways given the writer the fullest proofs
of his confidence.
ut is the first time had ever heard
of the existence of such a letter. but af-
ter the campaign life of General Gar
field, in which such gross misTepresent-
atiOns of fact occurred and very much
in the same strain as this letter, am
not surprised at it.
cat no time during the period that
General Garfield was with me with the
Army of the Cumberland did he express
to me any such sentiments of impa-
tience or dissatisfaction as those given
in this letter. He understood all my
plans and objects and my anxiety to
move as soon as a move could be made
with proper regard to effectiveness.
About the conference of the generals or
a council of war there was none such.
General Garfield suggested that the
opinions of the generals be taken, and
by the way there were but fifteen,
though General Garfield, putting him
self ahead of all of them, raises himself
two generals higher by saying there
were seventeen of them. l told General
Garfield to take their opinions if he
wanted to, and set of questions was
sent out and responses came in.
"He knew that | had made up my
mind as to the conduct of the opening
campaign, and that it did not matter to
me what the generals under me thought
or said. He got the answers and told
him to forward copies to General Hal
leck, which l suppose he did. did not
read them nor know what opinions
were given. General Garfield wrote to
General Halleck embOdying my views
of vigorous pushing movement before
the one that was made, and never be-
fore knew that | was being governed by
my chief of staff, as this letter would
make it appear. We were busy all the
time making preparations to have the
army promptly and properly prOvisiOned
when the advance did begin. We had
to deceive the enemy as to the place
where our supplies were stored, and
also as to the point where the advance
would begin. We had also to wait un-
til corn was fit to furnish forage for
our horses and mules. General Gar
field knew what preparations were
making, and gave his entire assent to
them and did not at any time express
to me any fears that we were wasting
time.
"All this, you observe, is supposed to
have taken place prior to the campaign
of TullahOma, which was over by July
4th, 1868, and yet this letter was writ
ten on July q, when we were working
with vigOr to follow up our advance. 1
had no idea at the time that l was har-
boring a person capable of such false
ness and double dealing or there would
have been court martial at once.
did not look for such an exhibition of
General Garfield's character as this, and
am sorry that the letter ever saw the
light. But it should never have been
written, for, as have said, it is COM
pound of untruths and eXaggeratiOns.