The times., 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-
Engiueers' 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 'Ridpath's History of the United
| States" which has fallen under the ban
| Gen. H 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 Ridpath's 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 Ridpaths History is the
1 more surprising because the author is sup
| posed to he one of the ablest and most ae-
| 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 er-
roTs 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,
! the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson,
on the Tennessee and Cumberland was
! planned by General Halleck.'
! '"The taking of these forts was planned
! by General Grant, urged on Halleck by
! Grant and Commodore FoOte. and at first
emphatically disapproved by General Hal
leck.
Page 312, Fort Donelson. The defences
were manned by 10000 Confederates under
| General Buckner
General Buckner surrendered over
| 14,G00. Besides these were the killed and
! the forces that escaped with Floyd and
| Forrest-at least 5000.
! Page 315. Murfreesboro. (January
2, 1862. 'Brag withdrew his shattered
! columns. and fled off toward Chatta-
nooga-
Bragg withdrew to Tullahoma and
! Shelbyville, and did not move for Chat
! tanooga until the last days of June, or
! six months later.
| Page 316. 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 2,239, and the Confederate
| casualties. 1,25l.
Page 319 Antietam ended in a 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 er-
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 Tn
ion loss was 1910, and that of the Con-
federates something less than $1,000
Page 322 On this same page begins a
paragraph of ten lines. which is deem
cd 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
Z
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 Qour divisons) is
given as one division, and Hooker is rep
resented as stOru,ing Lookout Mountain
with one division instead of three.
page 32f. Jackson at ChanceHorsville
He burst upon the right wing and swept
|. everything to destruction. 1t was ali 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 Cd, 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
front Of 1000 yardS-less than one mile
at the start, and 600 yards at its farthest
advance
Same page. The entire Confederate
loss was nearly 0.OO0.'
''The official reports by the medical di-
rector of Lees army, and the reports OF
each regiment and battery engaged, place
the loss al between q. 90 and q 600
Page S29. Meanwhile General Thomas
with the Army Of the Cumberland had
been detached from Sherman's army and
sent northward 20 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, bat they are Of a minor character
1t is respectfully submitted that the
teaching Of Ridpaths History of the
United States be suspended until it's pub
fishers correct its errors
At recent meeting of the board a COM
munication was read from HOughton
MilIin & Co, publishers Of "FisEe's His
tory of the United States in which they
| took exception to criticisms of that work
| or caustic reply. In return they sent
| to General BOyntOn a copy Of Dodge's
| Birds Eye View Of the Civil War" with
| the statement that that work would sub
| stantiate the statements which General
| B0yntou 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 matter which
has attracted the attention OF the Board
! for some time. Recently the matter was
referred 10 the Committee on Ways and
| Means, consisting Of General BoyntOn.
George II. Harries and James +. Bundy.