The Saint Paul globe., 1899-04-22
BACK UP THE COLONEL
GEN. SUMNER AND MAI. STRONG
TESTIFY BEFORE THE LEON
HAUSEs COURT
PRAISE FoRATHE FIFTEENTH

Each Man saysvIt Was One of the
Best Regiments, at Augusta-Its
Colonel Actedfas Ordered--Lieut.
Request-Col. Leonha1ser ON the
stand-Defense, Rests.
The LeonhauseI court of inquiry held
two sessions yesterday lasting until 6
o'clock In the afternoon and testimony,
that was more than corrobOrative of all
so far introduced, was brought out in
the examination, Of. Gen. Sumner and
Maj. Strong. Gen. Sumner was in COM
mand Of the first division Of the second
army corps at the time of the mutiny
Of the Fifteenth regiment. and when the
court convened yesterday morning he
was placed on the stand, testifying as
follows:
81 was senior officer and acting COM
mander of the division to which belonged
the Fifteenth Minnesota regiment, at the
time Of the mutiny. I personally made
an investigation into the conditions exist
ing before and at the time Of the upris-
ing and I am of the opinion that the Of
ficers all
SHOWED GOOD JUDGMENT
and never had any reason for questioning
the actions of Col. Ieonhauser. Cross
examined by Col. Dur Vail:
did you make the Investigations"
Eyes, personally. I called the officers
and the men up and questioned them as
well as others who did not belong to the
regiment, and it wasn't done with Col.
Leonhauser's advice, but I found no
ground for censuring him."
did you ever make a report?"
''No. 1 made the examination; as COM
manding officer I did not need to make
report to anybody"
weren't you called upon to make a re-
port?"
mo, 1 never was" =
''Did you as commanding officer observe
the discipline and morale of the army?"
81 did, and I found that the Fifteenth
regiment was one Of the best regiments
| anywhere, best In the division and, !
didn't lose confidence in them even after
the mutiny."
Gen. Sumner was very positive in his
testimony and the cross-examination by
Col Du Vail only emphasized his posi-
tfveness. = 1as
MAI. STRONG,S TESTIMONY.
Maj. Strong, who was division adjutant
| of the corps, was then called and testi-
| fled that he had been adjutant general
| Of the division since its organization and
| had anything happened on the night pre-
| ceding the nlutiny which required any
| extraordinary precautions. he, by rea-
son of his position, would have known OF
| it. On the afternoon. of Feb. he had
| fala tv,sc "A I,,I
he was not in camp: so he then tele-
phoned to the sergeant major to tell Col
| Leonhauser that Gen. Sumner wished tc
! see him at headquarters the next morn.
| ing at 10 o'clock, and it was in response
| to that command that Col. Leonhausel
absented himself from his regiment or
| Sunday morning. ,.Cross-examined by
| Col. Du Vail.
'"What in your opinion was the char
acter of the Fifteenth regiment?'
| During the time the division, was sta
| toned at Augusta different regiments
! kept coming and going, perhaps, .twent,
| in all, and the Fifteenth Minnesota wa
| one of the three best in alfothe twenty
| The other two were the Thirty-fifth Mich
! iganzand Two Hundred and Second New
| York;; 5..t gg1sQ sts..4..4ss4t5 81 ~
| Couldn't the business that Gen. Sum
| ner, had to transact with Col. Leonhause
| have been done over the telephone?"
Possibly, but Col Leonhauser knew
nothing of that, and he had no alternative
hut to obey the ORDER >'
| Lieut.. Col. Gotzian was called at hi
| own request to state. his connection witt
the affair. He had been absent from
camp, and had only returned two o.
three minutes before Col. Leonhauser
and on his arrival had sent Lieut.. Tenne!
for the cavalry. Col. Gotzian was no
crOSS-eXa mined.
COL. LEONHAUSER'S STORY.
Col. Leonhauser was then sworn in hi
| own behalf He told of the quiet prevailing
In the camp on the night of Feb. T. of th'
good order, and how he left camp mex
morning to attend upon the order Of Gen
Sumner. On his return he had talked tt
the men, explaining the consequences O.
their actions, and about half Of then
returned to camp. He had commanded
the others to return, and on their re
fusal had ordered men to pursue them
and bring them back Being asked OF
crcss-examination why he had called IL
the officers of the line. for consultation the
night before, he said he was not In the
habit of doing that sort Of thing, but tht
officers knew their men personally, came
from the same towns, knew their temper
and were better judgesTof their character
and he believed ite was the best thing
that could be done under the circum
stances.
Col Leonhauser was, then excused, Col
Duball reserving the tight to recall him
AT this point Col Leonhauser rested hi!
case, and court adjourned until this morn
Ing, when Col. DuballTwill begin intro
ducing testimony ON behalf Of Gen
Young. Among his, witnesses summoned
for today are Capt. Chase, Lieut. Con
nors and Lieut.. e. j. McMahan.
TREATED WELL IN AUGUSTA.
Capt. Gilmore, whose testimony will b,
used in rebuttal by Col. Leonhauser, sait
to a Globe Q representative yesterday
II wish you would say for me tha
never in my life was I ever better treated
than by the people of Augusta, and 81
| were all the officers and men who behaved
| themselves. The Southern people wen
here Are MoBrds