The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-10-31
sLANDERlNG A SOLDIER.
Col. MatsOn's War Record Falsely AssaiIed
by Indecent Partisans.

by Indecent Partisans.
To THE EDIToR-Sir: A special dispatch
in the Indianapolis Journal of Oct. IL
gives brief account of the reunion of the
Fifth Indiana cavalry at Noblesville, from
which l take this extract:
Twenty of the ifty-two were prisoners of
war, and they have good reason 70 mark Gen.
Hoyey'S opponent Col. T.. c. MatsOn. who
commanded the Sixth Indiana cavalry in
Stonemans raid. The reason was well told at
the reunion by L. J. Bruner Of Portland, Jay
county. He was one OF Gen. StOneman's order
lies. and in the rear of Macon. Ca July 80,
1864, took an order to Col. MatsOn, telling him
TO hold his position, but MatsOn said it was too
hot for him there, and he was going 10 get out
of there if he could, And he did IL as did also
the Fourteenth Illinois and Kentucky reg
iment, leaving the Fifth cavalry and the
TWenty-fourth Indiana TO be captured where
they felt sure of victory, had not they been
virtually surrendered by Matson and his follow
ers
Lamar SAYS the white flag was not run up
for three hours after Col. Matson had skipped
out of harms &ay, and he is satisfied they
could have won victory right on that field had
not Col MatsOn disobeyed the orders OF his
superior officer. Gen. Stoneman.
This refers to the engagement at Sum
shine Church, Ga July 81, 1864, between
Gen. Stoneman and Gen. VERSIONS divi-
sion, in which the former finally sur
rendered. The story that Col. MatsOn
disobeyed any order OF Gen. Stoneman, or
that the Sixth Indiana cavalry failed TO
hold any position it was ordered TO hold
on that day, or that it left the field before
Stoneman surrendered, Is pure fiction.
The Eixth Indiana cavalry in that engage
ment numbered about three hundred
men, and as the field was an open one,
- IL mfr 70 ho
actual facts. The engagement lasted from
early morning until about in the
afternoon, when Gen. StOneman sent out
a dag of truce and surrendered. He justi-
fed his surrender afterward on the gOund
that the brigade commanded by Col.
Capron had left the field. Ii is true that
Capron's brigade LETT before Stoneman's
surrender, but the Sixth Indiana, COM
manded by Lt.-Col. Matson, remained
where it had been posted by Stoneman's
orders until the flag of truce had been sent
to the rebel lines, and until it was known
that StOneman had surrendered his di-
vision. The regiment then wheeled 10 the
right, passed around the rebel left flank,
and, with the execution of those lost in an
engagement of three days later, rejoined
Sherman in front OF Atlanta. 1t is greatly
to the credit of Col. Matson that he went
out rather than surrender.
/ have seen, also, in the Indianapolis
Journal a paragraph taken from the Terre
Haute Express charging Col. Matson with
misconduct at Richmond, KY, Aug 30,
1862. Col. Matson was not in the engage
ment at Richmond, Ky. Before that fight
(no battle being expected he had obtained
leave to go home on account OF the fatal
illness OF his mother, who died, il re-
remember rightly, on the day before the
Richmond battle.
Col. MatsOn served in the army from
first call for volunteers in 1851 until the
close of the war. No comrade of his, un-
less prompted by partisan malice, will fail
10 testify TO his honorable conduct as
man and soldier through that long and
trying period. Respectfully,
O. ]. SMITH,
Late Major Sixth Ind. Cav.
New York. Oct. p.