The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-11-17
Ihr Wessengn.
THE NORTH CLAIMING A LOST
BATTLE.

They are always making discoveries
in the north. The last discovery in re-
gard to the great war is that the bat
tie Of Chicamauga was a decided fed
eral victory. OF course no man who is
Informed would hold that absurd view.
But it is held in ignorance. The New
York Evening Post says:
The northern people, at the time Of
the battle of Chicamauga, thought they
had the worst of it, and tx took nearly
q quarter of a century to change their
minds. They are now prepared to ad-
NIT that perhaps their first impressions
were wrong and that General Rose
Grams was a greater man han they had
taken him to be. If this change Of
opinion is due to Barnes's history, we
shall vote for 1T on every favorable op-
portunity."
Let us report a conversation we had
with General u. S. Grant when in North
Carolina early in November 1S65rper-
haps the second. We were seated with
him in the cars at his request as he
was seeking information that he
thought we could impart. The con-
~versation lasted about an hour and a
quarter. In answer to a question we
ask ed as to wha was the hardest duty
he a assigned him in the war, he re-
piled: 1T was when l was ordered to
supersede Rosecrans after the battle
of Chicamauga- / found his army
greatly demoralized and there were not
enough horses ITO have moved one park
of artillery. All that General Bragg
had TO do was to advance n Rose
Grams would have been compelled to
surrender" That was the kind of"vic-
tory" the federals secured. Gen. Grant
went on to a how the army was suf-
fering for provisions having to drive
cattle over the mountains to feed the
men. He said he went to work as best
he could and put the army in as GOOD
shape as possible under h circum-
ice He began to receive acces-
sions to his force, when one day a scout
came in and reported that General
Longstreet had begun to move his corps
towards Virginia. He a the news
was too good to be true, he feared, and
was unwilling to credit it until n or
WV u oNOoIo ~ IN N"h
ment. He marvelled that it was true
and that General Bragg SHOULD have
consented for the flower of his army
to depart. He o was in commune
cation with General Sherman, and
movements were set afoot ttnat brought
forth certain important results.
That was the substance of what Gen
eral Grant old us. We have given this
and other things said in deail in THE
last thirty years several times. We
have sometimes thought we would
write the whole conversation, or the
magazine. lit will be recalled by those
who have made any thing Of a study
of the wal that so confident was thar
great soldier, eneral Bedford Forrest,
of the total destruction or surrender
of ROsecrans's army, that ne ascended
a tall tree and made a survey, and
then went to Bragg, who was a great
blunderer there as he was afterwards
in North Carolina, his native state, and
begged him to advance. This was not
done unfortunately. We have under
stood that Lieutenant General Polk
another native of North Carolina
earnestly urged General Bragg to adj
vance, and some rather warm words
followed. The north is ready to grail
the globe to bring it hOnors. Their 2,
zoo, 600 soldiers should have gained fa1
more than they did over the GOO, 900 con
federates opposed.