Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1885-07-23

T. Darby and B. w. Taylor, who
dressed his wound. In conyersa-
ton with Imboden, sometime after
the battle, he told me that this was
the frat man wounded in his battery,
and in answer to my question at what
time this had happened he replied
I that he thought it was somewhat
later, probably 10, but it establishes
the fact that the Legion was near the
Robinson House at an early hour in
the morning. These details are given
in order that I may explain mistake
made by Gen. Johnston and Capt.
Imboden as to the time the Legion
reached the battlefield.
GEN. JOHNSTON Corrected.
Now the slight error into which
Gen. Johnston has fallen is contained
in the following extract on page lO4
in his contribution to the May num-
Der Of the Century:
Hampton with his Legion reached
the valley as the retrograde move
ment began. Forming it promptly he
Iioined in the action and contributed
! greatly to- theorderly ,.koracter of the
I ferreat by his courage and admirable
soldiership, seconded by the excellent
conduct of the gentlemen composing
his Legion"
l have shown that we reached the
plateau before Bee crossed the turn-
pike on his way-to support Evans,
and I shall prove by incontrovertible
evidence before concluding how long
We remained on the turnpike. Bee
may have formed his brigade, as has
been stated that he did, on this pla.
tsau before he crossed the turnpike
but if he did | saw nothing of the
sort, and made it rule during the
war to report only what l saw and
knew. Of course tho g officers who
had larger commands than mine had to
depend in large measure on the re.
ports Of subordinates, but my obser.
vation has led me to the conc lusion
that much OF the confusion and con.
tradiction prevailing as to the events
and transactions of t@ war have arisen
from the fact that officers constantly
embraced the whole field in their re.
ports Of a battle, instead of confning |
themselves to what fell under their |
personal notice. In this sketch of |
the battle Of Manassas l propose to
give only such incidents as came un.
der my own eye, and when it is re.
membered that the Legion was from
an early hour 10 the morning until
the yetreat Of the enemy never out
Inc drasn iss ssI, 1om lie turnpike 10
'ront OF the Robinson lIonse to the
light of Jackson aposition, a few hun !
lred yards in our rear, thence to the
Henry House, about as lar distant u
aud thence back to the point first in
| q
it will be seen that my op-
o,tunities for observing what occur
red within these lines were certainly q
as great as those Ct any surviving 9th
GER who took part in that fight. 1t
is proper to state, however, that
was wounded at the Henry House, !
abont 8 30 P. M, and after that ss~
nothing more Of the action; but it
was very soon after this hour that
the retreat of the enemy began, aa | G
have been informed.
THE POSITION OF THE LEGION.
In order to define the limits OF the
triangle in which my command ope
r4ted I subjoin rough sketch oil
that portion OF the field, which will
give the reader an idea of the posi-
tions occupied by US: Nos. l, 2 and
8 malk the different positions OF the
Legion, No. l being the Robinson
House, No. 2 the position taken when
we fell back from the turnpike, and
No. 5 the Henry House. 1mbodens
battery is indicated by No. 4, and I
think that Capt. Imboden makes a
mistake when he says that his first
position we "abol: 100 yards to the
northeast OF the Henry House," for
when Taw him gointe action,frat he
was, asI have stated just to tue left Of
the Robinson House, and at all events
it was here that the Legion supported
his battery. This difference in opinion
between US is, however, very imma-
terial; but he falls into grave error
when he says that "for at least
half hour after our forces were driven
across Youug's Branch no Confederate
soldier was visible from our position
near the Henry House. The staun.
ton Artillery, so far as We uld see
Was alone in its glory"
No3the fact is that the Legion,
which supported his battery as it
went into action, moved up to the
turnpike, when he was forced to re
tire, and remained there for hours at
ter his withdrawal. While in this
latter position we saw the troops oi
Bee and Evans falling back across
The road between us and the Stone
Bridge which was several hundred
yards to our right Mango these men
were rallied behind Jackson's brigade
which had previously taken position
on the plateau, few hundred yards
south of the Robinson House and in