The National tribune., 1884-12-18
MOSCOW AGAIN.
Comrades Bailey and Durham Lock Horns

| Co. i, lo3d N. Y, New York.
MOSCOW AGAIN.
Comrades Bailey and Durham Lock Horns.
To THE EDITOR: Mr.. S. ]. Bailey, Co. G., 9th
| Ill. Cav, Menomonie, Wis, in your issue of
Nov. g. uses some very uncomplimentary Ian
guage about me by reason of my version of the
! battle at Moscow, Tenn, on Dec 4, 1863 He
says l exhibit good deal of bad blood and
advises me to cultivate a spirit of charity,
| aud says wagon masters are necessary and as
loyal and brave as shoulderstrap-w /
will admit that wagon-masters were necessary,
but never heard of wagon master being pro-
NOTED by reason of his bravery. will now
| quote from his letter published in The TRIB-
UNE Of Aug. 81. Hesays: Ialso participated in
| the skirmish at Salisbury and at Moscow from
first to last. Was sent south from La Grange,
and had brush with Lee. We proceeded
| leisureiy on the road to Moscow. When we got
to the Wolf River bridge the pickets there two
| companies of cOlOred troops belonging to the
I'd w. Tenn had taken up some planks in the
bridge. All was quiet. The 9th Ill. was then
| full length on the bridge-the 9TH coming on.
| ] was by the side of Capt. Cameron at the head
of the column of the 9th. Surely We were in
. fix. The river was full of men and horses,
and we all knew it was essential to keep that
river between us and them. The only negro
troops in the fight were two companies or parts
of companies" A little later in his same letter.
Aug. 81, he says: i was in good position to
see. had charge of the wagons. got them
close in rear of the battery; got an ak from the
negro quarters. In one wagon l had battery
ammunition and in another rifle ammunition; !;
| could see the length of the bridge and witness
| the work of the battery. The enemy was about
to flank us to the left with deep river be-
tween. He certainly is strategist]. At this
| point Gen. Hatch arrived. Just before this a
! train on the railroad from La Grange had
| blown its whistle The JOhnnies thought that
the iniantry had come down on the train from
La Grange, and they soon began to slack up
| and back Off" / think l have quoted enough
of the letter of Aug. 81, and Will now quote
! from his of Nov. 6 81 do not believe he is, or
was aware of the numbers of the enemy en-
gagged, OF the peril that his regiment was in, or
he would not write so uncharitably towards
| those who stood between his regiment and the
| fate that befell those at Fort Pillow" He
thinks made 2:40 time from Guntown. "And
would remind Lieut.. Durham that Col. Nor
gan's Brigade did not arrive until the battle
was over, and the 9th and part of the 9th had
swan the river. Their ammunition
was wet and issued six boxes of rifle ammu-
| milton in short time.'
Now, l will try and compare his letters of
Aug. 81 and Nov 6 and see how they agree. IL
the former he says he participated in the bat
tie of Moscow from first to last was by the side
of Capt. Cameron at the head of the colu mn,
and the 9th was full length of the bridge. And
in the same letter of Aug. 81 he says: 81 was
in good position to see. l had charge Of the
wagons got an AK from the negro quarters" &c.
In one wagon he had battery and in the other
rifle ammunition. He participated in the fight
from first to last; was by the side of his Cap
tain in the advance of the 9th at the farther
end of the bridge and was, at the same time,
issuing ammunition from the wagons on the
other side of the river. He says the enemy was
about to flank us to the left. / don't see how
the enemy could flank us to the left with
deep river between, with no way of crossing at
our lett between us and Davis's Mill, some
eight or nine miles southeast of us. He says,
Aug. 81, that a train arrived from La Grange,
and the Johnnies thought the infantry had
come and backed off. Nov. 6 he says they
didn't come until after the battle. How does
he reconcile those statements? In my letter
Of Sept. Is gave clear, and believe, a true
statement of the affair in accordance with what
i saw and heard at the time. / don't pretend
to say l saw the whole, as Bailey did. l had
enough 10 do to watch what was in our 'front.'
and, i repeat, we knew the enemy was in our
front on the evening of the Sd, the day before
the battle and we had made ample prepara-
tions for his repulse if no cavalry had appeared.
And if the cavalry engaged the enemy south
of La Grange on the 4th, why did they rot
drive them? How cenid Wolf River get be-
tween them if they roald whip the rebs and
save us from barbarouS massacre? If the cav
airy could and wanted to defeat the rebels
why did they not get on the south side of the
river and attack their rear while they were
assaulting us? 1t is all bosh. The white troops
were greatly prejudiced against the colored
troops and their officers, manifestly so among
the cavalry, and it continued until they saw
that they would fight. / denominated them
in my letter as 'niggers." simply because that
was the name used by the cavalry generally.
Bailey says the cavalry saved the infantry at
Guntown My regiment was not there, conse-
quently did not have to make 2:40 time get
ting to Memphis, but there were two colored
regiments at Guntown,-the 55th and 59th,
think k,-and they came into Memphis in better
shape than any other regiments saw or heard
of. He calls the cavalry at Guntown the
worthless cavalry. l will make no issue with
him regarding that as he knows them better
than / do. i have no desire to detract one iota
from the credit due the cavalry in the late
war. 1t no doubt was of great service and is
entitled to great credit, but / don't like to see
or hear certain individual cavalrymen boast of
what they did, when in fact, they didn't do
any moro than others. / am called by Bailey
"shoulderstrap- -wearer." l plead guilty
to the charge and by hard and arduous serv-
ice l earned the right to wear them. ! en-
tered the service in 1861 in as good cavalry
regiment as Illinois sent to the war (4th), and
In 1863 after my bride (left) arm was totally
disabled, assisted in organizing the 61st u S.
G. T., formerly ID West Tenn, and did not
get home until in January, 1866. presume
have seen as much hard service as Bailey has,
and / don't claim all the credit for suppressing
the rebellion either. ! can't for the life of me
see what men want of ammunition after they
swim deep river in December. We all wore
our overcoats that day, if l remember right.
Enough regarding ACKNOWLEDGMENT DUR
HAM, Late Lieut., 6lst u. S. G. T., Morton, ILL.,
The 35th Ind.
To THE EDITOR: In reading the article |
headed THE men who were blown up at New |
Madrid" '" written by Henry Guckert wish to
make correction. He says that Witmere was |
killed by provost guard of the 35th Ind. He |
is certainly mistaken for two reasons: First, |
the old 35th never did that kind of duty; and, |
second, it was never at Memphis. We passed |
Memphis in July, 65, on our way to Texas, but |
didn't put out any provost guard. The old |
members of the 35th were never known to kill |
Q comrade going out or coming into camp, es- |
pecially if he had canteen at his side. Some |
of the boys have figured up the distance that /
their regiments have travelled but l don't be- |
lieve the 35th was a single rod behind the |
longest. Why? Because if we passed dis
tillery or house where we thought we could |
get up dance, we would march back in the |
night if it was IL miles. The 35th served in |
the Army of the Cumberland, and was in every
engagement of any Importance, except Shiloh.
would like to correspond with or hear from