Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1898-01-19
sE DEFENDENDO.
Historian Chapman Makes An
SWer.

SWcIs
Mr.. EDITOR: A friend has just
called my attention to the letter
of Capt. j. J. Bunch printed in the
ADVERTISER Of Dec. 22nd.
Chapman, the writer of the his
4ory of Edgefield, did not make nol
invent any of The army rolls that
are printed in that book. He copied
from the rolls which he found in
the adjutant generals office in Co,
lumbia, and from others which
were sent him by surviving officers
and members of the different COM
panies. Thus acting as copiest
only he cannot be held responsible
for any errors which may be found
therein, excepting only clerical
and typographical, of which, nc
doubt, there are some.
Capt. Bunch Joined the company
in March, 1863. One of the mel
whose name he objects to as not
belonging to the roll, was discharg-
cd in 1862, some time before he
Joined. The roll as printed in the
book says that C. NJ. Adams was
killed in a skirmish February,
1855. Capt. Bunch says: IL guess
it was 18th March" Again the
book says that Thos. R. Williams
died of disease at Petersburg Sep
tember, 1864. Capt. Bunch says
he was killed near Burgess Mill in
Virginia November, 1864. Mr..
Chapman is very glad to learn that
Bro. w. II. Mays did not lose a
leg at Trevillian and chat he has
two good legs now.. He was SICK
and not in that battle. GA few
days later" writes Capt. Bunch,
"near New Kent C. H. Il believe
it was) VIM. Holloway and T. E.
Seago were severely wounded"
AS to the accuracy and relia-
bility of the rolls generally, for
the edifcation OF Capt. Bunch, it
is nothing but proper to state that
Chapman, the writer of the history
of Edgefeld, was a member of Co.
D, 10Th Reg't S. G. ", T. P. Shaw,
colonel, and Manigault, hrigadier.
The roll of 20. D. is on file in the
office in Columbia. 1t was pre-
pared in 1882 by the last surviving
captain of the company, and in
that roll does not appear the name
of the captain who was elected at
Corinth, Miss, at the re-organlza--
tion in May, 1862, and who was
killed at Atlanta July 2Stb, 1864.
His name does not appear on the
roll at all, neither as private, cor
poral, sergeant nor captain. 1t has
its rightful place in the printed
book. Then again, Chapman. the
writer of the history of Edgefeld,
was wounded the night of the 29th
of May, 1864, Sunday night after
midnight, making it May Both.
On the roll as it is in the office in
Columbia he was wounded al At
lanta, when in fact he had been
lying helpless in the hospital for
two months before the battles at
Atlanta. The writer of the history
could not possibly do otherwise
than copy the rolls az be found
them, except when he knew there
were errors, and then it was his
duty to correct them.
If Capt. J. J. Bunch wants to do
a great service to the State and to
his old comrades, let him take time
and carefully prepare full, COM
plete and correct roll of his COM
pany and send it to Col. J. P.
Thomas, who has been appointed
by the State to collect the rolls
and who is now engaged in that
work. And let every surviving
soldier of old Edgefeld buy copy
of Chapman's history, read it for
the good that is in it, (and he will
find much); read careful ly the
rolls as printed, note the errors,
and then meet and compare and
send the result of their labors to
Col. Thomas and he will be glad
and they will not be sorry for 80
doing. This will be much better
than finding fault because there
are errors in some of the rolls.