The National tribune., 1890-06-05


} dlers and Sailors Historical Society of Rhode
Island, at Providence, Il. /. IL is in reply to a
letter addressed to him by Capt Bliss, 1st r. J.
Cav, asking for his recolleCtiOns about the
matter. In view of the statements made there.
in, Gen. AverelPs estimate in his official report
OF the battle-SO sharpshooteIs- n very mod
est one, and harmonizes well with the truthful
and unprotending character of that whole docu-
ment which, to Ge fully appreciated, should
be compared with the rhetorical and hamboy-
ant efforts of his antagonists of that day.
BUCKINGHAM COURTHOUSE, VA, |
JUNE % 1886.
NY DEAR CAFrAIN: Your letter OF the Goth inst
Is just received and hasten TO reply. As stated
TO you some time ago, | am dependent almost en-.
urely on memory rs to occurrences which took
| place during the war, having lost NIL my papers
about the Time of the surrender Rt Appomnttox
| Courthouse.
My memory now Is that / carried with me 10
Kelly Ford, on the morning of the l7th of March,
1868, about 90 men; that left a guard with the
horses in the edge of the wood. about one hall
mile back from the ford on the road to Brandy
station five men, taking with me Sj To the rifle pts
near The ford.
Capt. Breckenridge was nlrondv In position, Civ
ing me no opportunity TO find out his force. and
do not remember what force lie officially reported.
but ann sure he must have had 90 men with him,
mnking IN all li5 mon. Capt. BreoCinridgc stated
before the Court of Inquiry thnt he did not fire,
being short OF ammunition, SO all the execution that
was done was due To
have often wondered how II That / could
have missed the gray horse referring 10 Lieut..
Brown's as fred at him more than nj his rider,
feeling that if | brought him down the rider
would be hclplcss besides the rider had challenged
my admiration by his courageous bearing under
the trying circumstances. The charge on
| your part was gallant one, for few regiments
| would have undertaken IL under the heavy fire
that was poured upon them that cold morning.
| Very truly. your friend
WM A. Moss
| Captain, Go. X, 4th Va. Cav.
To Capt. GEoRGE N. Bliss. Providence. II. 1.
This letter speaks for itself, and may be use
ful in establishing facts inferroDtally at least.
which seem hard to get at in a manner moro
| direct. Let us see; this officer was a Captain.
! and the record of the day shows that there were
field officers with that regiment. He therefore
most probably had a Captains command only
| which, ut most, would have been a squadron Of
two troops, and these, il seems, he carried" 4"
with him to the ford and got 81 fthem in the
rihe-pits, finding, on his arrival there, another
| command consisting of not less than 60 men.
If horseholders from this squadron had been
| left in rear, IN the manner prescribed in the
| drill hook, is intimated on page 207 of Mai
| McClollan's book, then this squadron had 80
men in it..
Here we have two squsdrons of so and 90
| men respectively, 30 and 45 men to the troop,
| which is about the average number found pres
! eut for duty mounted, except at the end of
severe campaigns.
! Let us be generous and assume that there
were but 30 men (avoragc) to the troop
! throughout the brigade, aud we have 10 X II,
! which equals $50 men. This comports with
/ the estimates that day made by tho most con
/ seryativc Of Gen, AFerell's officers. If Gen.
| Lees command was so abnormslly reduced on
this occasion, it Is remarkable that ho should
have made no mention of IL in report which
bears the marks of carefuneSs in its prepara.
ton.
This is especially so when we consider that
ii would have been the very best excuse he
could have made to his Chief for the ground he
lost that day, and for his failure to attempt the
punishment of his assailaut when lie ceased
his pursuit Of him and withdrew across the
river.
Page 21O. "Tho regiment f3i ya) swept
down the line OF stone fence which separated
them from the enemy in the wood beyond. do.
liycrIng the fire Of their pistols.
TIE ENEMY's LINE wAvEaED
throughout It's length and the utmost excr-
tinns Of tho Federal officers were required 10
keep their men from flight. But no outlet
through the stone fence could be found, aud
the regiment turned across the field 10 It's left
and moved down toward Whcatlcy's leo. c.houso"
IL Is hoped its reception hero Was rs cool rs IL
bad been warm when going in the opposite di-
rection. No officer in that column had, at that
time, or has had since, suspicion of this IVA.
vering" or attempt at flight"
If the Major Is not laborng under a migap-
prebenson about this, IL strikes mo that this
would have been good time for his regiment
n have stopped its sweeping. by hating and
pouring it, pigtol.6re across the fence
line which is wavcrng throughout II
easily assisted to flight But we arc led 10 pre-
sumo, throughout this account, that 10 was not
the Yankee horsemon who gave Mnj McClcl.
lan's friends any uucasiness that day. II was the
fences, stone and other, with which the Union
commander persistenily kept himself sur.
TuupiFd R1 IN AZ NM had h. 10
fence with him, VIC may presume that there
would not have been left enough Of the "cer-
tainly not less than 1900 h0rsemcn with a bat
terry" laee Fitz Lees Report, Vol Is, page
GO, Official Recordsl for the remainder Of this
terrible 500 10 have made light lunch Of
A few moments later the ist T. l. and 9th
Ohio moved through wide opening in this
same fence into the field through which Mai
heclellan's friends had been wildly cavorting,
and, forming line, proceeded to charge and
roat another column which came from the
same direction as did the last The Majors
friends may have been so preoccupied In look
ing for the waveFng" which did not materi.
alize, that they could not perceive tho broken
wall which was certainly there.
The last We "Yanks" saw Of them, they
were not engaged in looking for n hole In
that wall. IL seemed to us 10 DO case aim.
liar 10 that Of the young bear hunter, who gave
rs an excuse for quitting the trail he had been
'pA''N'HS NiAh% ~ WIS getting TOO IEchn. vi
this charge Lieut.. J. b. Cook, previously quoted
from, says: THE Ist K. /. Cav. went at them
with a will. led by Capt Gould. They retreated
In disorder, hardly waiting TO feel the saber,
pursued by the lst X. /. with great spirit which
took many prisoners, among them being Mai,
ckinridge, a cousin Of the
EX-yICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED States.
who was captnred by Lieut. Falos."
Page PIP. IL should not be forgotten that
all this fighting occurred in the Immediate
vicinity Of Kellys Ford" Though Mai Nc
Clcllan may not have intended ID, this is mis-
leading. The map opposite page 207 in his own
book shows by scale that Lees last position
fully three miles from where the fighting
commenced, aud his artillery was still half a
mile further back.
Page 2l3. He says after describing charge
OF Lees whole line, the last charge he made, in
which he states no reserve was kept 10 rally
on: "a year later in the war Lee would hardly
have yentured on such "a charge"
This Is perhaps true, aud he might have
added that "a year later he and Stuart would
hardly have ventured 10 make Just such re.
ports as they did Of this little battle.
In bls criticisms Of the Union Generals con-
duct OF this affair, there IL hostility aud tenn
per shown, the cause Of which is difficult TO
comprehend. Our author becomes absolutely
spiteiui at times. and presents the singular
anomaly Of one Of the parties TO a "di1iculty.n
retiring from the arena whipped, but muttering
imprecatiOns oil the successful party for not
beating him more thoroughly.
IA m n