The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1896-03-22
. moral irnpossibility TO go back ana re
call what had been done.
THE CAVALRY FxONERATED.


Stuart arrived on July %. before Long
street was ready FOR action. He has been
criticised for capturing and bringing along
with him wagon train Tho capture OF
the train was simply an incident OF his
march. To Judge him properly you must
put yourself IN his place. General Lee
had ordered him not simply 10 Join Ewcil.
but on the way to do them an the dam
age you can, etc. collie ing Information.
provisions, etc He expected 20 find
Early nj York and deliver these supplies
to him. He arrived g. that vicinity tho
evening OF the soth; Early had marched
east that morning. Suppose tho wagon
train delayed him twenty-four hours. and
that without IL he could have Joined Early
on the 18th. He would then have gone
with Earlyi and reached Gettysburg dur
ing the battle OF July Ist. General Lee
was west OF the mountain on the G0th. ST
least 40 miles from EARLY j. was too far
for Stuart 10 communicate with him. Be
sides. Stuart knew that Longstrcet had two
hrigades of cavalry. SO It was all the
same. so far rs giving Information TO Com
eral Lee WAS concerned. whether Stuart
Joined Early or reached York on the Goth
or the goth. The complaint Is not that
cavalry was needed in the battle, but before
the battle. II made little difference whetn-
er Stuart arrived on the battlefield on
July fst or I'd. Nearly all the enemv's cav
airy was away after him. Stuart was
absent on the first day for the same rea-
son that General Lee was General Lee
was not there because he had never In
tended 10 frht a battle az Gettysburg.
BY precipitatlng n battle lcrorc he was
ready Hill and Hcth broke up al IFS
plans. Tho absence 90 the cavalry had
nothing 10 do with their going 10 Get
tysburg or bringing on the battle. II was.
I'm fact. a good reason for their not goin-
No one can show that General Lee did
anything or left anything undone. Tor
want Of information tho cavalry could
have given him
To support the charge against Stuart
n is necessary 20 show that Gettyshurg
was the point on which General Lee was
directing his columns, and that ne ran
"a Colonel Marshall says. unexpectedly
against the enemy. That T. the fairy tale
that has been told with variations by in
terested parties over thirty years. and
has been accepted as true. 7 have dem
onstrsted that General Lee never intond-
Ell to go 20 Gettysburg until he heard tho
sound OF the cannon there. and that he
know the place was held Nv the enemy
independently Of the superiority OF CASH
town "a n defensive position General
Lee would never have committed the blum
der or ordering concentration so Nfht
the enemy as Gettysburg. where each
division might he attacked as it came up,
and his army destroyed in detail This
would have been initiating the stupidity
a. the Austrians In NapOleon's first CAM
paign in italy. u has been said that II
Jackson had been there Lee would have
won the battle With far more propriety
II can he said that # Jackson had boon
there no such battle would have been
fought.
The charge against Stuart was invent
"a 20 create diversion and 10 cover mp the
errors OF others. The story Of the spy was
invented 10 support IL. I think | have
shown that Il Is faslfed by the record
and that the spy. who stalked across the
stage at ChambersburR on June 2Sth "a
a being Of the imagination. Hereafter ne
must take his place IN historical literature
with the ghost Of Caesar that appeared
al Brutus' tent the night before PhllllDpi
JOHN 6 MOSBY
San Francisco March 2, 1906.