The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-10-26


good
'At the exchange of prisoners which took
place near Chattanooga soon after the battle
of Chickamauga, several Confederate and
Union officers met under flag of truce.
what is the prevailing opinion in regard
to the battle in your army| General Oracle
asked the Union officers.
"There is a difference of opinion was the
reply.
)" so there is in our army. We have been
talking it over, and cannot make up our
minds whether it was a victory not. 1t
was a terrible slaughter on both Sides
There has been no time in the past six
months that we would not have bought Chat
tanoOga at the price we have paid for it, said
Colonel Bond, and the officers on both sides
agreed that he had stated the case exactly"
"DId you, on your return to Chattanooga
on the afternoon of the Goth, telegraph Sec
rotary Stanton, as he has stated and as has
been charged, that the army was routed and
destroyedY'
IF any such dispatch is in existence with
my name attached, ii is base and an in
famous forgery. Secretary Stanton's hatred
of me was malignant and unreasoning and |
believe that he was capable of perpetratlng
any infamy for my injury. If he ever had
such dispatch as the one he is said to have
shown Gov Morton and Gen. Steedman, it
was forgery, as have said, and L do not
believe the forgery was committed at the
OUner emu OF the line. In snort DelleVe
the dispatch, if there was or is such a dispatch,
was manufactured in the War Department.
and I think 7 know who did it,"
What was the cause of the misunder
standing between you and the Secretary,
General?'
81 was Mordecai standing at the kings
gate. He would have liked me If he could
have used me. If 1 had shown disposition
to curry favor or to accept favors from him
in consideration of my allegiance to him, |
would have got along with HIM ali right.
My Independence and blunt ways annoyed,
irritated, and then incensed him to such an
extent that the mere mention OF my name
was enough to drive him wild with rage.
His hatred of me became malevolent and he
determined to destroy me. l always did
what thought was my clear duty, utterly
regardless of fear or favor. Boot-licking was
not in my line l distrusted Stanton the
first interview had with him. He put out
teelers to see how l would take them. He
SAID, among other things, 'Rosecrans, I
would like to see you and Mcdowell get
into Richmond ahead of that damned little
cuss, Mcclellan l was never so much as
tonished in my life as 1 was to hear such
words fall from the lips of man occupying
such position about the head of an army.
1 told him bluntly that did not want him
to look up a soft job for me, and that | was
ready to go wherever duty called.
My last interview with him was charac-
teristic one. L called on him by appoint
ment He offered me the choice of two or
Corinth, where my services seemed most
needed at that time. lie approved OF my
choice, and l informed him | would start for
the front immediatelY-on the morning
train. On bidding me goodbye he followed
me to the door, and taking me by the
hand, he said: General, l wish you we'll;
and bear in mind that anything | can do for
your advancement l will gladly do-yeS,
will"
II had not said anything to call out the
supplementary assertion, but he must have
seen doubt in my eyes. l never knew before
that my face was so easily read. never saw
Stanton again, but l heard from him in
divers ways afterward. During the time l
was in command of the Army of the Cum
berand | was harrassed by him continually
He stopped to petty things. He did not want
any general to get on who did not bow to
him. If 1 had written him as some other
generals 1 could name did, fiatterng him
into the belief that he should be President
and putting myself in line as a supporter
would have basked in the sunshine of his
favor Stanton had an insane ambition to
become President. To attain that end he
would have brought the country to the verge
of ruin that it might be built up again under
his magnificent administration"
The General also gave crcumstantial ac
count of the fighting at Chickamauga, telling
the movements of the troops with great par
ticularity. He told of Longstreets charge
into the gap left by General Wood, when that
officer pulled his division out of line in the
face OF the enemy, under a misocnstrUctioa
of that famous order about which so much
mas been said
Tom Wood always had genius of exer-
cising his discretion as division command
er in constituting orders when he could get
out of fight by so doing and of obeying
orders with blind obedience when blind ODE
dience would get him out of fight He
should have been dismissed from the army
in disgrace for what The did that day, and
am only sorry did not put him under ar
rest at the close of the engagement. If ever
general merited dismissal from the army,
Wood did, tH