The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-11-04

the nght-after midnight-to come 10 Ms
quarters 1t was bitter cold nlBht, anu
| set out on gallop TO get ogt Vi 'n nv
intense cold as soon as possible bee
occupied a little brick house in the en-
virous of Petersburg. and as | OPereu
the door Of his room, after ne had in, an
swered my knock, i found INN 5ldI, , T
by an open fireplace, resting ms hes aI
on his arm on a hlShlup ih at,,dy, over
apparently In a deep and sad STUDY oNei
az have sent for you said he, 10
look over these reports from our Natio ur
commands, | have spent, the nlsnt oa IL
them and on these maps pointing 70 d
long table covered with papers, on WniG en-
n light was burning. You VIII see, ne
said that they are very dlscoutasa Us
The men have scarcely ANYTHING 70 ca ca
A single ration is made to supply "a
men. and the camps are full OF SICK anu
starved soldiers our horses are also dy .
ing for food, and when we lose mo- oa sc :,
we practically lose his rider, 1or we c@ 81
make no other disposition or hlm ~
course / was more or less familiar WIN
the situation In my own comInahd, put
did not know II was so pad III All tny
rest. SO | said 10 General Lee that. Oh
course, the situation was very uespel W. ~
do something very soon. w ell, sald ne,
fixing his eyes very intently on me, WHAT
do YOU think We ought to doT replleu'
'One of three things. General, right away
get from Grant, or to retreat and try 10
unite with General Johnston, or TO nsnt'
And which would you advise" said he
L would first try a fight. replied. ne
earnestness in the matter (Which was
habit he had. so you would ADVISE
fighting? Yes ] said as a choice OF
three evils lie had been to, RICHMOND
and had laid the situation before Mr..
Davis. 1 asked him what the President
thought. oh he remarked, he Is per
tinacious as TO the idea OF holding out
longer and fighting further. And as Tor
the members of Congress, they 90 hUl
know nor appreciate the situation at all
So i suppose the only thing left for us
Is to fight, and ! will let you arrange for
an attack on Fort Stedman at once.
80 / returned TO my quartere and at
once issued orders TO that effect. We were
TO get ready TO move inside the Federai
fortified area the next night, and as
soon as We could see IN the morning we
were 10 attempt 10 surprise Fort Sted-
man. Well, We found many difficulties IN
our way when the time came. There
were the abbatis that We had TO cut
through with our aXemen, VINO went
ahead OF the command 10 do thIs Work.
They succeeded in cutting an opening
into the area, and through this we march
ed in the darkness as rapidly as possible
a good deal of delay occurred as day was
breaking, and part OF the command
became beWildered as TO its exact Where-
abouts, so much so that IL soon became
apparent that we were In danger of being
cut TO pieces, and retreat was ineYitable:
The retreat was disastrous. We lost
1000 men in getting out and we realized
that Grants position was practically i'm
pregnable. Thus ended, / may say. one
of our alternative plans for lettering our
posllion. AS respects the others, IL was
the opinion of Mr.. Davis that we could
get as good terms, when the worst came
to worst, or. in other words, after we had
exhausted ourselves 10 the uttsrmost.
Therefore &C you know We finally pro-
ceeded with a further experiment In the
49, T. la. consequences OF
way of retreat with the consequences
OF which the world is familiar, and with
all the details OF which nobody can ever
be familiar"