The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1888-09-29
THE BATTLE OF CEDAR CREEK.

fdt hehe on lesteFua! WAS suFptlseu
TO find in your paper of that day what
purports to be an interview with Gen.
eral John b. Gordon, the present Gov
ernor of Georgia, in regard to the bat
tie of Cedar Greek, in the valley Of
Virginia, ON the 10th of October, 1864,
which interview is alleged to have
been had at the reunion at Gettysburg
in July last and is copied from the
Boston Herald. That interview as
published contains so many false state
ments, which are alleged to have been
made by General Gordon, that | am
constrained to believe that it is entirely
fictitious, and that he is in no way re-
sponsible for the statements herein
attributed to him. A number of the
statements are so glaringly false that
when they are thus brought to my inn
mediate attention and published under
my nose, feel constrained to notice
them and brand them as UNANIMOUSLY
false. This do without intending to
cast any imputation upon General Cor
don, as | believe him to be incapable of
uttering or giving countenance to
such infamous falsehoods.
Among the falsehoods contained in
the alleged interview are: 1st: The
statement that he, Gordon, suggested
and planned the attack ON the enemy's
position at Cedar Creek. 2nd: That
he made the first attack ON the enemy's
left and routed the Sth and 18th corps,
killing and wounding between 1000
and 5000 4th: That he had gained a
complete victory when / arrived upon
the field and stopped the offensive op-
erations; 9th, by inference at least; that
| was under the influence Of liquor
that morning, which is contained in
the following statement: "To the
question as to Early's personal condi-
ton that morning Gen. Gordon gave
no reply"
The fact is that the plan of the bat
tie was entirely my own, though | sent
Gen. Gordon and my Typographical
engineer, Capt. Jed. Hotchkiss, to the
end of Massmutten Mountain to view
the ground occupied by the enemy, SO
as to enable the attack to be made un-
derstandingly. This was on the 18th
of October. and not ON the Slth; al
stated in the interview, and Capt
Hotchkiss made his report to me, fur.
nishing a map which he sketched, be.
fore Gordon reported, From this
formed the plan Of attack, though
modified 1t on the report of Gen. Pc
gram commanding q division in the
corps, who, at his request, was permit
ted to go to the mountain on the 18th
and reported the construction of
new brcastwork ON the cnemy's left
after the visit of Gordon and Hotchkiss
to the mountain. Gordon was not
commanding Ewelps corps at time, the
but put him in comniandsofthe three
divisions of the corps for that occasion.
Gordon did not make the first al
tack on the enemys left; that was made
by Kershaw's division, on Cooks corps,
the Sth, nearly If not quite an hour
before the troops under Gordon be-
came engaged; and that corps was
routed and possession obtained of Its
camp and artillery before the troops
under Gordon encountered the enemy.
The loss Of the enemy was very little
If any more than half of that stated.
There is not word OF truth In the
statement that stopped the offensive
operations. So far was this from being
the fact, that, so soon as got OH the
field where Gordon's troops were, ]
made every possible effort to prosecute
the advantage gained, and one of the
greatest obstacles had to encounter
was the condition of Gordon's own
divisions, to the command of which
he had returned after our meeting. 1t
is very probable that the inference in
tended to be conveyed by the refer
enco TO my personal condition and
Gordon's alleged silence when the
question was put to him, is that was
unduly under the influence of liquor.
The fact is that | had not touched a
drop ofliquor the night before, and did
not touch drop Of 1t that morning.
During the war / carried no liquor
with me on campaign. either in my
baggage wagon or about my person,
and | never touched drop Of liquor
during any engagement in which !
was in but one, and that was at the
battle of Winchester on the 10Th Of
September, 1864, when, just before he
went into action, General Rhodes, who
had flask with him. offered me a
drink out of his flask, which ] took.
This was the only instance of such an
occurrence during the entire war.
The foregoing are few of the false
hoods contained in the alleged inter.
view with General Gordon, and my re
ply to them.
cannot believe that General Cor
don is at all responsible for them My
memoir of the last year of the war
which contains an account of the cam
paign in the valley in 1864, was pub
lished more than twenty years age
Il <..JsAoI ttx.t =.