The National tribune., 1891-02-19
PETERSBURG.
The Second Brigade, First Division, Ninth Corps,
First in the CIty.

First in the City.
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUSr: In your issue
of Dec. Is, 1890, Comrade Campbell made the
astounding assertion that the Sixth Corps was
not engaged in the fight OF April Q 1865, in
front OF Petersburg. This was so egregious an
error that it was almost cruel to ComTade
Campbell TO publish il. As might have been
expected, the comrades Of tho gallant Sixth
Corps made haste TO reply, and among others
Comrade Hall took pains 10 prove in the Jan.
issue what every one who has taken pains
10 inform himself, already knew, viz, that the
Sixth Corps was not only engaged in that
fight" hut that on that occasion il performed
one Of the most heroic achievements Of the war.
Had Comrade Hall stopped there all would
have been well, but unfortunately, in his desire
10 get back 4" on Comrade Campbell, he does a
cruel injustice to the Ninth Corps, by quoting
from one Of the State histories" (the author
OF which is TO be pitied fer his iguOrance) TO
the effect that the Ninth Corps achieved no de-
cided or important success in that battle. Now,
if COmrade Hall had not been actually or fegn-
eddy as ignorant of what the Ninth Corps did
as he blRmes COmrado Campbell for being in
regard 10 what the Sixth Corps did he would
never have quoted from the unreliable and mis-
leading Estate history" TO which he refers.
He would have known and recognized the fact
that at the same time that the Sixth Corps was
smashing the rebel line in its front the brigade
10 which Comrade Campbell belonged First
Brigade, First Division, Ninth COrps) went
through every rebel =" line of intrenchments
in front Of that brigade, captured Fort Malone
after a severe struggle, and held IL against re-
peated and desperate assaults by the rebels. As
Fort Malone commanded not only the rebel
works TO the right and left Of it, but the city as
well, the capture and holding of the fort by the
Ninth Corps would have compelled Lee to evac-
nate Petersburg had the assaults By other
corps on the rebel line at other points failed
instead Of succeeding, as they did.
But Comrade Perry, in an article on the same
page OF the same paper, goes still farther than
Comrade Hall by claiming that anything
gained by the Ninth Corps that morning If not
directly was Indirectly the fruits of the Sixth
Corps movements" lnasmuch Rs the assault
of the Ninth Corps was made at the same time
as that made by the Sixth Corps, and as the
point where the assault CO the Ninth Corps was
delivered was SO far from the point a-sRulted
by the Sixth Corps that neither corps could be
said TO be in supporting distance Of the other,
10 would be quite as correct 70 say that any
thing gained by the Sixth Corps that morning
il not directly was Indirectly the fruits Of the
Ninth Corps movements. The one statement
would be rs reasonable and as true rs the other.
The fact is that on that eventful morning the
Sixth Corps boys did their work heroically and
well, and the boys Of the Ninth Corps did their
share with equal herOsm, and that neither
owed their success 20 any aid save that given
them by their own brave hearts and the favor
Of the God Of battles.
In another part of the same letter COmrade
Perry adduces what he calls evidence that
the Ninth Corps was not the first in Peters
burg, but that honor as we'll as breaking the
lines belongs TO the Sixth Corps" As we'll
might the comrade bring forward evidence 10
prove that Lee did not surrender TO Grant at
Appomattox. but that on the contrary Grant
surrendered to Lee. Whether or not a few
udividuals-pickets, straEglers, or what not
from the Sixth Corps were in the city before
the entry of the Ninth Corps do not know,
nor does Comrade Perry. nor is IL a matter Of
any consequence; but the Interchangeable YER
dict Of history is that the first organized troops
TO enter the city that morning were the Tegi-
ments composing the Second Brigade, First
Division, Ninth Corps; that the city was sur
rendered to Col Ralph Ely commanding that
brigade, aud that the flag Of tho 1st Mich.
SharpshOOtcrs was the first 10 float above tho
courthouse. These are facts that no eomrado
OF any corps can write up or write down. That
these facts reflect any particular glory upon
that brigade none Of the men belonging to the
brigade will claim. Had COmrade Perry's bril-
gade been in the place where the brigade above
named was on that morning, it might, and
probably would, have been the first in the city |;
but as the brigade to which Comrsde Perry be-
lOnged was where duty called il 10 be, and as the
Ninth Corps boys were where their duty called
them 10 be, the latter were first in the city,
and IL IS = matter Of no small surprise 10 the
Ninth Corps that any Of their comrades Of tho
Sixth Corps who covered themselves with i'm
mortal honor on every battlefield on which
they fought, should seek 10 take from those TO
whom IL belongs any credit. great or small, and
appropriate ii TO themselves
is IL not time, comrades, that all petty bick-
erings and disputes among ourselves on paper
or otherwise, should be stOpped2 Would il not
be well for every cOmrade, in giving his recOl-
lections Of the war, either 10 the public or in
private, not TO try to build up the reputation
Of his own regiment, corps or army by decry-
ing the merit of some other command? Is il
not apparent to every thoughtful mind that the
soldier haters could find great deal of aid and
comfort In what soldiers say Of each other 2
The enemies Of the veterans Of the war of the
rebellion could find great deal of testimony
that the armies Of the Union were made up of
towards and laggards, were they merely to use
the assertions Of many Of the soldiers them
selves, who mistakenly write of what other
soldiers failed 10 do, when, in fact, they have
no knowledge, and in the nature of things
could not know, what was going on in any
other regiment than their own. When com
/ rade writes Of what he himself saw, no is gen.
orally correct; when he attempts to tell what
he did not sec, he is generally wrong.
The Union soldiers in the late war ought to
be the first 10 recognize aud the most earnest
IN asserting the great truth that in the war of
the rebellion the several armies OF the Union
were one as our country is one; that the men
composing those armies were, with very rare
exceptions, alike in bravery, steadfastness and
patriotic devotion to our country and its flag
that whatever one army or part of an army
did, any other army or part Of an army would
most probably have done under the same cir
cumstances, and that whatever any army or
part of an army failed 10 do, ne other army or
part Of an army that ever existed could posi-.
bly, have done; that the heroic achievements
Of any part Of the Union armies or nayies in
the late war ought TO be and are the pride aud
glory of every man who, in that unparalleled
conflict, faithfully and Loyalty wore the blue
and fought under the Stars and Stripes.-GE 70
ii. Buck, Co. G, Goth Mich, Kalamazoo, Mich