Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1899-12-28

war. ne lOllOWlng Ql6phtCneS record
the rise and fall of Blezsr:
"Charlestown. August 20, 1864.
Sheridan to Augur, Washington:
IL have 100 men who will take the
contract to clean out Mosby's gang. ]
want 100 Spencer rifles for them. Send
them to me if they can be found in
Washington. P. II. SHERIDAN,
"Major-General Commanding.
| QndorsemenO:
Approved: By order of the Secretary
of War. C. A. DANA,
Assistant Secretary"
"Harper's Ferry, Nov. 10, 1854
Stevenson to Sheridan
1.-TWO of Captain Baz RS Den came in
this morDing-privates Harr and
Johnson. They report that Mosby with
800 men attacked Blazer near Kable-
town yesterday about IL o'clock. They
say that the entire command, with the
exception Of themselves, was captured
or killed. / have ordered Major Cong
don with 800 Twelfth Pennsylvania
Cavalry to Kahletown to bury dead and
take care OF wounded, if eny, and re-
port al facts be eau learn. | shall i'm
mediately furnish report as soon as re-
ceived."
Exit Bis zer.
Msjor Richards commanded in he
Blazer fight; was not present.. WDen
we sent Blazer and ai5 baud ci prison
ers to Richmond they would not have
admitted that they ever hung anybody
Major Richards refers 10 Grants orders
10 destroy subsistence fer Gu srmy, so
as to make the couu;ry uute nable by
the Confederates; aud patheiically de-
scrbes the contlsgratiop. He ought to
know that there mad been turning oil
mills and wheat stacks in L)udoun Two
years before Grant came TO Virginia
Grants orders were 30 more directed
against my command than Early's.
Augusta and Rockingham were desc
lated. where we never had been. But
| cant see the slightest connection be
tween burning forage and provisions
and hanging prisoners. One is permit
It'd by the code of war, the other is not.
After General L=e's surrender l
received communication from
General Hancock asking for mine. l
declined to do so until 1 could bear
whether Joe Johnston would surrender
or continue the war. We agreed on
FIVE days armistice. When it expired
nothing had been heard from Johnston.
1 met flag of truce at Millwood, and
had proposed an extension OF ten days,
but received through Major Russell a
message from Hancock refusing it and
informing me that unless l surrendered d
Immediately be would proceed TO DE-
vastate the country. The reply sent
by Russell was: Tell General HaL-
cock he is able to do IT," Hancock then
had 10000 men at Winchester. The
next day disbanded my battalion to
save the country from being made
desert. If any one doubts this, let him
read Hancock's report. Ii it was le-
gitimate for Hancock to lay waste the
country after I had suspended hcstil:-
ties, surely it was equally so for Grant
TO do it when / was doirg all the dam
se in my power 10 his army. Stanton
warned Hancock not to meet me- in
person under 8 flag of truce, for fear l
would treacherously kill him. Han
cock replied that he would send an Of
ficer to meet me. He sent General
Chapman. The attention Grant paid
TO US shows that we did him great
deal of harm. Keeping my men IN
prison weakened us es much as hang
them. Major Richards complains of
the "debaslng epithets" Sheridan sp-
piled to US. l have read MS reports,
correspondence aud memoirs. but have
never seen the epithels. In common
with all northern and many southern
people, he called us guerrillas. AL
though I have never adopted it | have
never resented as an insult the term
"euerrila" when applied to me. Sheri-
dan says that my battalion Was 1.-The
most redoubtsble" partisan body that
he met. 1 certainly take no exception
to that. He makes no charge of any
act of inhumanity against US. The
highest compliment ever paid to the
efficiency OF our command is the
statement in Sheridan's Memoirs
that while his army largely outnnm-
bered Eary's, yet their line of battle
strength was about equal on account oi
the detachments he was compelled to
make to guard the border and his line
of communication from partisan at
ta.ks. Ours was the only iorce behind
nim. At that time the records STOW
that in round numbers Early had II, 600
present for duty, and Sheridan had
"a 600. The word guerrilla" is di.
minutive of the Spanish word guerra"
(war), aud simply means one engaged
10 the minor operations of war.
had only five companies OF cavalry
when Sheridan came ln August, 1864,
to the Shenandoah Valley. A sixth
was organized in September. Two
more companies joined me in April,
1865. after the evacuation OF Richmond.
They came just in time to surrender. l
donit care a straw whether Custer was
solely responsible for the hanging OF
our men, or jointly with others. 1t We
believe the reports of the generals none
of them ever even heard OF the hanging
of our mer; they must have committed
suicide. Contemporary evidence ls
AGAINST Custer. I wonder il he also de-