The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-12-14

Curtis+the last badly wounded. 1t would
have been passing strange II an expedi-
ton of nearly 1000 men had been sent
ashore without ga general Again he
says: Not a gun was reported injured.
the fort not damaged" the fact being
that every gun ON the land face OF the
fort was disabled or ~dismounted by the
fearful bombardment by the fleet before
the assault was made.
F. A. OLDS.
Charlotte Observer.)
Editor OF The Observer:
1 have just read the article written by
General Bragg TO mis- brother in Sun
days issue. To say 1 am Disguised. IL
putting it mildly. To say I am surprised
would not be true Nothing eminatinS
from this source of bad omen could sur
prise me. In the first place General
Bragg was not at Fort Fisher nor could
ance to the fort. He would listen 10
nothing suggested by either Of those
noble and brave officers. I ailude 10
General Whiting and Colonel Lamb No
better or Drawer soldiers fought for the
Lost Cause. / speak advisedly, being an
eye witness. / was wounded on that
same Sabbath day as was General Whit
ing and Colonel Lamb and was captured
at the same time they We're, and il Is
false and slanderous TO accuse the Fort
Fisher garrison of being drunk or quar-
tered in bomb proofs. No more desperate
struggle was made during the war and
ICk CT u4d II GAAlh AAoc&-
General Bragg was responsible for the
fail Of Fort Fisher. as all who were in
the fort at the time Of the lombard
ment believe. and if Colonel Lamb and
General Whiting could have exercised
their will and better Judgment no doubt
the results would have been different. |
read carefully the article by Colonel
Lamb, published in The Observer recent
lV, and testify to the correctness Of all
he said.
As to all the officers and most of the
soldiers being drunk. il is absolutely
false. We had no time TO look up any
thing to eat, much less to drink. 1 was
in IL all. from the beginning to the
end. and can truthfully testify to the
fact hat not one drop of spirits did !
see or smell. nor did / see anyone drunk
Now who has the best light TO know the
facts and to be believed-an eye witness
on the grounds. or General Bragg in VIII
mington. twenty miles away, and out OF
the reach of any guns.
Two of the officers, Captain X. j. Brad
dy. in command Of one of the cannon
and Captain c.. II. Blocker. aid on staff
both of whom were kinsmen of mine
and Were of course, closely connected
Captain Blocker keing the one who car
ried me to the rear after I was wound
ed, will, no doubt, as we'll a. all VIII
We're in the fort, condemn this letter o
General Bragg's as m~aliciously false o
as cruel negligence of duty in ascertain
ingthe facts.
Sad. indeed, for the confederacy, wa.
the day General Bragg was put III cOIl
mand at Wilmington.
a careful reading of the history of GU
late war will show that General Brag;
was a signal failure. His conduct an
bad generalship in the matter of the de
Tense of Fort Fisher finds its counter
part in his campaigns In the west.
General Bragg had made a reputation
for inefficiency before he was called t
the defense of the gateway of the con
federacy,'' and no slanderous, trumped
up charge of his, published more tina
thirty years after the lamentable even
can detract from the Immortality G
glory won by the splendid Whiting an
the superb Lamb and their followers, G
save him from the condemnation he ma
received and deserves.
F. O. HAWLEY.
Charlotte, N. c., December 9th, 1897.