The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1897-12-30
THE TWENTY-THIRD CORPS.
fHnI AaA 90 4 0Ni

/ IoLEDO, OCt 400.
1 MY DEAR GENERAL: have seen it stated
IN the newspapers that you are preparing
second edition of your Memoirs " and tha
you have intimated you would add. as al
appendix, the letters of any officers explain
ing acts or events in which they deemed yot
had not done them justice. i hope am moi
too late to be heard when / advise you to dt
no such thing. There can be no good reason
for making your book the vehicle of un.
limited controversy.
| You are under no obligations to square yotn
account OF affairs by other men, s memory, Oh
/ to gauge your Judgment of their conduct by
/ their own estimate of it. Your book is your
testimony, based Oh your memory, aided by
! orders and other memoranda, of what occurred
under your own eye and command As such
| 1t has very great historical value though Won
would yourself be probably the last man to
claim that 1t is in.aliible, or that other wit
nesses viii not be examined by future his
tOrians.
The time Will come when not only public
documents Will be infinitely scrutinized but
even for centuries new evidence will be dis
covered IN private diaries, soldiers CORE
spondence both Union and Confederate. and
IN the thonsand-and- unsuspected and un-
thouSbt-of sources of circumstantial evidence,
which will throw strong direct or side lights
upon the events OF the war.
You cannot, if you would, embody all these
In your book. and the Controversy, if opened
Id the form limited at in the beginning of this
letter, would weigh your book down with
bulky matter, which should be published, if
at all, in some other form
i assume that in the cases in which you
have expressed opinions of mems capacity.
character. or efficiency, you woald not be
likely to change your mind by any thing they
could write. In nearly every instance in which
your book expresses your Judgment OF men,
i know from my personal intercourse with
you that you held the same opinion in 1864
TO, and at all times since Such rooted
opinions must therefore be accepted as a fixed
Judgment from which the appeal should be
taken, If anyone feels wronged, my means
OF separate publications, and not through an
appendix to your book
While on this subject permit me to say
further that in my opinion it is too late to
consider the question whether on the whole
you would prefer not to have ANYTHING to say
which could wound personal pride or feeling
Ii you were con inced that you had erred. |
am confident you would take pleasure in adj
mIttIng 1T frankly; but if you are not you
owe 1T to yourself, in all good temper, to
stand firmly by what you have said. No
OMISSIONS from new edition could take the
facts away from the possession Of the public.
You used your best Judgment in giving
what you thought it would be useful and in
teresting to the world to know. We who
know you intimately, know that you have
done 1t without rancor or desire to harm any
one, and that you ielt that the lesson of the
war would not be properly taught if you did
not have the courage OF your opinions enough
to say when subordinate failed as we'll as
when he succeeded.
Instead of omitting anything which you
still believe to be true, you should, rather, as
1t seems TO me, support y"ur former state
ment by such circumstantial matters as will
III re perfectly put others in position to un-
derstand the grounds Of your conclusions
There are several instances in the book in
which, judging from the impression left on
my "wn mind, think this should be done.
] have read the book with some care, and
| can honestly say have noticed but a sin
gle, and that an unimp.rtant instance in
which my memory of y uT Opini II at the
time differs fr III that you now express, and
only one IN which you seem to have made a
Slight mistake as to a fact within my per-
sonal knowledge. The latter / will mention,
as it involves the credit due to another per
son. On page 154 of the second volume you
speak OF the rec nnafssance made from Rome
in October, 1854. to determine the course taken
by Hoods army and say that it was made
by Gen. G rse, and resulted in the capture OF
two guns and some prisoners, besides obtain
ing the informati desired.
The guns and prs ners were, in fact taken
by Kenner Garrard's Cavalry, acting under
my command, IN the nnrthwest side of the
Coosa, Corse being on the southeast side. On
first reading the passage / thought it was
mere Typographical error; bnt, on looking
back at your Special Field Order No. So /
find (what | had forgotten) that Corse was
ordered to make the reconnaissance on the
southeast side OF the river and Elliot para
graph III to send cavalry nn the other side,
which he did by detaching Garrard's Division
But from news you had you changed the
order alter 1t was written, and directed me
orally and in person to follow Garrard out with
the Twenty-third Corps. and take command of
the whole reconnaissance on that side
We found the enemy's cavalry in position
behind fence barricade, and at Garrard's
request / let his dismounted cavalry charge
them, simply keeping my own infantry in
supporting distance Garrard's work was
very handsomely done, and think you will
recollect on reflects how pleased Elliot was
when | reported the galiantry of the cavalry
and their capture of the guns, for you were
at the time feeling a little dissatisfied with
what the mounted troops had accomplished
for little while before that
We brought you the definite news that Hood
was on our side of the Coosa, making toward
Resaca. 1t would be miracle if in some
small matters of this kind there should be
absolutely no error of remembrance, especi-
ally as the written order seemed to accord
best with the statement you have given. 1t
is one of the exceptions which prove the rule.
l need not say what by this time so many
have told you, that the country is your
debtor for the writing of the book, and that,
despite some irrtations and heart -burnings,
you will III the end find abundant reason to
be glad of having written it.
Sincerely yours, j. d. Cox.
ITO Be- continued
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