The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-05-02
MORE ERRORS DISCOVERED
General Boynton Reports Mistakes
in Ridpath's History.
Regular Meeting of the Board of Ed
ucation-The Proposition to Pur
chase the Halls of the Ancients-
Engineers, Licenses for Janitors.

More errors have been found in the
United States histories used in the public
schools of the District of Columbia. This
time it is 'Ridpaths History of the United
States" which has fallen under the ban.
Gen. II. V Boynton, the President of the
Board, last night submitted to that body,
| at the regular meeting in the Franklin
| School building, a statement of errors
which he alleges occur in Ridpaths His
tory, which is used in the sixth grade,
Study of the chapters containing errors
| will be suspended until the American Book
| Company. publishers of the text, correct
| the errors The fact that mistakes have
been found in RiGpath's History is the
more surprising because the author is sup
| posed to he one of the ablest and most ac-
curate historians of the present time.
| The errors referred to in General Boyn-
! tons statement are all in the chapters on
the civil war with which General Boynton
appears to have wider knowledge than of
other parts of the-history of the nation
The report filed with the Board is as fol-
lows:
"a somewhat hurried examination OF
| 'Ridpath's History Of the United States,
| published by the American Book Com
pany, New York. Cincinnati. and Chicago
| used in the sixth grade schools, led me
to express the opinion to the Board that
it seemed to be accurate upon the points
| where others were erroneous. A more
careful reading shows many serious err
rors which. in my Judgment, render this
text book unworthy of further use until
! these are corrected The following are
examples:
Page 80. AT the beginning of the year,
4 the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson,
/ on TppnpGsaa nd rid nd
planned by General Halleck.'
The taking of these forts was planned
by General Grant. urged on HalIeck by
Grant and Commodore Foote. and at first
| emphatically disapproved by General Hal
| leck
Page S12. Fort Donelson. The defences
were manned by 10000 Confederates under
General Buekner'
General Bucl1ner surrendered over
1860 Besides these were the killed and
the forces that escaped with Floyd and
| Forrest-at least 5000
Page 5l5. Murfreesboro. January
2, 1862. 'Brag withdrew his shattered
columns, and filed off toward Chatta-
nooga-'
Bragg withdrew to Tullahoma and
| Shelbyville, and did not move for Chat
tanooga until the last days of June, or
!
Page 315. After Yorktown. Mcclellan
| reached the Chickahominy without serious
resistance
THE intervening battle of williams
! burg was probably counted sufficiently
serious by those who took part in it. The
Union loss was 2r259. and the Confederate
| casualties. 1,25l
Page sls. Antietam ended in drawn
battle
1T ended in defeating Lees invasion of
| Maryland, and forcing him to retire into
Virginia
Page 322. In a single paragraph of
seventeen lines relating to the campaign
for Chattanooga, there are six serious err
| rors; among others. errors of six weeks
| in the dates of movements and this as
| to losses at Chickamauga: The Union loss
amounted to nearly 1900, and that OF the
Confederates was even greater The I'm
ion loss was 1910. and that of the Con-
federates something less than 1900
Page S22. On this same page begins a
paragraph of ten lines. which is deem
ed sufficient to cover the operations of
Braggs army before Chattanooga: the
movement of Hooker's two corps from the
Army of the Potomac; Grants arrival
and assuming command; the reopening of
the Tennessee River: the arrival Of sher-
man with two corps of the Army of the
Tennessee; and the battles of wauhatchie.
Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge
In this condensed paragraph Sherman's
forces of two corps -four divisions) is
given as one division. and Hooker is rep
resented as storn.ing Lookout Mountain
with one division instead of three.
Page 32f. Jackson at Charlottesville
He burst upon the right wing and swept
everything to destruction. 1t was all bad
enough, but there was something left of
the Army of the Potomac after that.
Page 30. on the eve OF battle the
command Of the Union Army was trans
| ferred to Gen. George G. Meade who took
up position on the hills around Gettys-
burg
THE Union Army, advancing beyond
| Gettysburg, was driven back through it
to the hills in rear Of it.
Same page. The battle reached its eli
max on the Sd, when a Confederate col
umn, three miles long. headed by the vir-
ginians. under General Pickett, made a
final charge on the Union centre
THE Confederate column of assault had
a front Of LOO yards-less than one mile
at the start, and 600 yards at its farthest
advance
Same page. The entire Confederate
loss was nearly 30.Og0.'
THE official reports by the medical d.
rector of Lees army, and the reports of
each regiment and battery engaged place
the loss at between d. 600 and q go
Page S29. Meanwhile General Thomas
with the Army OF the Cumberland had
been detached from Sherman's army and
sent northward to confront Hood
only one small corps-the FOurth-of
the Army Of the Cumberland was given to
General Thomas. The great bulk of that
army marched with Sherman to the sea.
Such are some Of the more serious err
rors on only seventeen pages OF the thirty
devoted to the civil war. There are others
on these and the remaining pages of the
! thirty, but they are of a minor character
1T is respectfully submitted that the
| teaching Of 'Ridpaths History Of the
United States be suspended until its pub
fishers correct its errors"
At a recent meeting of the board COM
nunicaiion was read from Houghton,
MiiIlin Il Co publishers of ''Fiske's His
tory of the United States" in which they
took exception to criticisms of that work
by General Boynton. They received rath-
er a caustic reply. IN return they sent
to General Boynton n COPY OF Dodge's
Birds Eye View Of the Civil War" with
the statement that that work would sub
stantiate the statements which General
BOynton termed erroneous. General BOyn-
ton, in acknowledgment of the receipt
of the Bird s-eye View Informed the
publishers that he was sorry TO say that
he found in the Bird s-eye View twice
as many departures from the official rec
ords as he pointed out In Fiske's History
The acquisition OF the Halls of the An
clients by the Government as an auxiliary
educational institution to the public
schools Of the District is a matter which
has attracted the attention of the Board
for some time Recently the matter was
referred to the Committee on Ways and
Means, consisting of General Boynton
George II. Harries, and James F. Rundy
This committee made the following re-