The National tribune., 1890-08-28
UP RED RIVER.
Another GrowI at Comrade Rrrsou

EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: In The Ma
TIoNAL TRIBUNE of July u appears an article
OF great importance and historical value to
| coming generations from the pen of Comrade
James Bryson, of Gettysburg, 5. D., in regard
to that great cotton-stealing expedition, better
known as the Red River campaign flz2le. Prob
ably ere this the cOmrade has tackled one OF
sam Jones5 sermons, reponted, and come TO
the conclusion that 10 would have been more
creditable 20 himself had he kept mum. The
| article appears TO be a ding at the Thirteenth
aud Nineteenth Corps more than ANYTHING else
for there is very little In Il all that q Home
| Guard might feel proud of, much less an old
| soldier. ] have an idea the eomrade has got
too far from shore for the size of his boat If
he Is out on cunning expedition for tho
/ Thirteenth Corps, he will have To load some
thing eisb besides an old, ancient blundorbuss,
TINT has more innuy business for the victim
behind 1t than the object he has "a bead on.
He says 1t was 40 Alexandria that he first
met the Thirteenth and Nineteenth Corps. /
would ask the cOmrade whore was no during
the war prior 10 the campaign in question
For his limited knowledge would inform him
that the Thirteenth Corps contained regiments
that began their career in Virginia under
KosocranS, whose col0ts were emblaz0ned with
belmont, DonclsOn shiloh, CoFinth PeTryyilIe
Chickasaw Bayou, Arkansas Post. Port Gibson.
Champion Hills Black River Bridge, Vicks.
burg, Jackson and othe~ engagements up to
the time he first met as Pleasant Hin was n
sideshow in the small tent compared 20 some
OF the above attractions, not excepting Mans
field, where tho remnants Of two small divisions
OF the Thirteenth Corps, with a few guns and
cavalry from the Nineteenth Corps. drove tho
combined forces OF Smith and Taylor all dav
aud held our own until Ransom and several
other commanders fell, and We became greatly
out-numbered and out. generaled.
Again he gets funny, and has all Of us
adorned with paper collars, white gloves, and
dress coats buttoncd up to tho chin lie over.
looked tue button,holc bouquets that tho ladies
OF that loyal section placed on our manly forms
while en- route over tho several hundred miles
OF dusty roads and through swamps. that We
were Just emerging from when no first met us.
What hurts the comrade still is tho fact that
the Thirteenth Corps held the advance from
Alexandria 10 Sabine Crossroads, and never
left as much ia its wake as an old setting hon
or dccnyed yam.
Again hc says tho field officers of the other
corps had too much regulation makeup and too
little individuality about them, aud that no
blamed the officers more than the men for
their judgment aud staying qualities
Why, bless his intelligence on war matters,
the regiments OF the Thirteenth Corpi had
learned ther soldering in the armies of Rose
Grams, Grant, sherman, Banks, and Sheridan.
aud had FOR their commanders, one time and
another, such leaders as McClernand Ord Can
by, Granger, Steele, H0vey, McGinuis, Cameron
Osterhaus A. }. Smith, Ransom, and others
that do not now call 10 mind Their history
aud record Is ours, and we may well feel proud
OF the same.
am writing no history or campaign. but In
"A feeble way simply defending the honor and
record OF the Thirteenth Corps when assaied
Il corps that was there from the start 10 tho
finish, and never was whipped on any field, ex-
cept It's two depleted divisions at the disastrous
and misInanaged affair OF Mansfield. | do not
mean that we existed as n corps throughout the
war, but It's regiments came from the original
Army OF the tennessee and the Fifteenth Six
teenth and Seventeenth Corps emerged from
the Thirteenth Corps
In conclusion, think COmrade Bryson's ar.
ticie on the Pleasant Hill affair is a corker from
way back IN the manner il was obtained He
says that his only memorandum of that battle
ono of the ilercest conflicts Of the war. nc
cording TO his estimation, for tho time IL lasted
was written on the field during the battle.
lie must have been all sand or else where the
powder and shot wero the thickest-under some
ammunitiOn-wag0n. It's tho only case on rec
ord where, with pencil and memorandum, on
the field OF one of tho nercest conflicts of the
war, the history OF the same was written TO be
dished out to US 70 years afterwards
You should have stuck your pencil over your
ear and used your gun and judgment more ON
an occasion like that, assisting the Johnnies to
Heaven or Iiadcs, rs their choice might be.
and not deride and crow over "A corps, at this
late day, whose record was second to nome
JoHN w. SCoTT, Thirteenth Corps, Commander
Lincoln Post No. 5, Department of Missouri
MobgPlV Mo