The National tribune., 1897-03-25
THE NATIONAL qRBNE D. G. THURSDAY. MARCH 25 1897

him for duty. He at once denied Gen.
Schofeld's right to command him, but
after examining the dates Of their re-
spective commissions and hearing their
arguments wrote to Gen. Palmer:
Aug. 4; 10:45 p m.
From the statements made by yourself and
Gen. Scho6eld to-day, my decision is that he
ranks you as r-General. being OF the
same date Of present commission. by reason OF
his previous superior rank as Brigadier-Gen-
eral. The movements of tomorrow are so IN
portant that the orders of the superior on that
flank must be regarded as military orders, and
not in the nature of cooperation. l did nope
that there would be no necessity for my making
this decision. but it is better for all parties in
tcrested that no question of rank should occur
in actual battle. The Sandtown road. and the
railroad if possible, must be gained tomorrow
if it costs half your command. 1 regard the
loss Of time this aftsrnoon as equal to the loss
Of 2,000 men.
also communicated the substance OF
this to Gen. Thomas, to whose army Pal
mer's Corps belonged, who replied on
the 9Th:
Irsarst to hear that Palmer has taken the
course he has, and know that he intends TO
offer his resignation as soon as he can properly
do 20. I recommend that his application be
granted.
And on the 9Th [ again wrote to Gen.
Palmer, arguing the point with him,
advising him, as friend,
NOT TO RESIGN AT THAT CRISIS,
lest his motives might be misconstrued,
and because it might damage his future
career in civil life; but, at the same
time, l felt it my duty to say to him
that the operations on that flank during
the 4th and 9th had not been satisfac-
tory, not imputing to him, however, any
want of energy or skill, but insisting
that "the events did not keep pace with
my desires" Gen. Schofield had re-
ported to me that night:
/ am compelled to acknowledge that have
totally failed to make any aggressive move
ment with the Fourteenth Corps. / have or
dered Gen. Johnson's Division to replace
Gen. Hascal's this evening, and / propose to
morrow to take my own troops (Twenty-third
Corpse to the right, and try to recover what has
been lost by two days delay. The force may
likely be too small.
/ sanctioned the movement, and or
dered two of Palmer's Divisions-Da-
vis's and Baird 's-to follow en- echeton
in support of Schofield, and summoned
Gen. Palmer to meet me in person. He
came on the 9th to my Headquarters
and insisted on his resignation being ac-
cepted, for which formal act | referred
him to Gen. Thomas. He then rode to
Gen. Thomas's camp, where he made a
written resignation of his Office as COM
mander Of the Fourteenth Corps, and
was granted the usual leave of absence
to go to his home in Illinois, there to
await further orders. Gen. Thomas
recommended that the resignation be
accepted; that johnson, the Senior
Division Commander of the Corps,
should be ordered back to Nashville as
Chief of Cavalry, and that Brig.-Gen.
Jefferson c. Davis, the next in order,
should be promoted Major-General, and
assigned to command the corps. These
changes had to be referred to the Presi-
dent, in Washington, and were, in due
time, approved and executed; and
! thenceforward / had no reason to com
plain of the slowness or inactivity of that
splendid corps. It had been originally
formed by Gen. George Fl. Thomas, had
been commanded by him in person, and
had imbibed somewhat his personal char
acter, viz, steadiness, good order, and
deliberation-nothing hasty or rash, but
| always safe, slow and sure"
On Aug. l
TELEGRAPHEp TO GEN. HALLEcK:
| Have received today the dispatches Of the
| Secretary of War and Of Gen. Grant, which art
| very satisfactory. We keep hammering away
| all the time, aud there is no peace, inside oil
| outside of Atlanta. To-day Gen. Schofeld go
round the line which was assaulted yesterday
| by Gen. Reilly's Brigade. turned it and gained
| the ground where the assault had been made
| and got possession of all our dead and wounded
| He continued to press on that flank, and brought
on noisy but not bloody battle. He drove
/, the enemy behind his main breastworks, which
| cover the railroad from Atlanta to East Point
| and captured good many of the skirmishers
who are of his best troops. for the militia hul
| the breastworks close. do not deem it pru
dent to extend any more to the right, but will
push forward daily by parallels, and max,
the inside of Atlanta too hot to be endured.
have sent back to Chattanooga for two 30. .pount
PARROTS. with which We can pick out almos
| any house in town. / am too impatient for
siege aud dou't know but this is as good plac
to fight it out on as farther inland. One thin,
| is certain, whether We get inside of Atlanta o.
not, it will be ussd-up community when VI
are done with it.
ITO be continued