The National tribune., 1901-06-20
FIGHTING THEM OVER.
What the Veterans Have TO Say
About Their Campaigns.
BATTLE OF BEUE SPRINGS.
Historian Sanford Replies to Capt Allen S
Attack.


EDITOR NATloNAId TRIBUNE: l per-
ceivc in the issue of June that Com
rade TillfOrd Dagger has joined
history of the 18th Ill. Cav,
and its author. The comrade as
serts that l am in error. This is his
language: He (SanfordD asserted that
Wilcox'S Division was at Bulls Gap dur
ing the fight at Blue Springs" Now, |
must call Comrade Dagger to order. 1t
is he who is i'll error. / never stated that
WilcOXS Division was at Bulls Gap dur
ing that fight. Capt. Allen himself pre-
sented proof that WicoNs command was
at Bulls Gap on the Sth. TO this | re-
piled that Bulls Gap is not Blue Springs,
nor was the Sth the 10TH That is the
great big bear that this cOmrade has
reused up. As to attacking MoSsrove in
his account, | have done nothing but com
mend it. Cant. Allen saw fit to attack
my article, and Sneer at rcgimental his
torians, and make light of what he called
| bootleg information and yet through
out this controversy has the Captain or
any of his hackers presented Il scrap of
anything but bootleg information eX-
| cept an extract from BurnSides report
which | also quoted, while | have quoted
| the itinerary of the Ninth Corps to show
| that only one division of that corps was
present or engaged, and also the cas-
ualty list, which gave the bloody foot
prints Of those engaged. l also quoted
Burnsidcs report, which referred to those
engaged. and mentioned no other. / will
now quote from the Confederate report
regarding time of engagement and retreat
| In Serial No u we have Gen. John :.
Williams's (Cerro Gerdo Williams, G. s.
report of those operations. On page 64O
| he says: AT 10 a. III. Saturday, 10Th
] rod mon
my encampment, driving i'll my yidets and
pickets."
This was Col. Carter's (Union) cavalry,
as shown before. He then tells of the
great gallantry of his forces, amongst
which was Col. Carter, C. s., and Col.
| Giltncr's forces. Again, he says: During
the day the enemy received reinforce
ments and continued to extend his lines,
to meet which | was compelled to length
en- nv own until my front was more thar.
| two miles long, and became nothing but
| line of skirmishers." Again: AT about
| ) D. m. (the time that Burnside mentions
| first infantry attack the enemy, discover
ing the weakness of our lines, made
| furious assault on the center.
Now, the commanders on each Slue
give about ) p. m, instead of lO
a. H., as the time when the first principal
attack was made. The records show that
our brigade of cavalry had engaged the
enemy earlier, but there is no official
proof of the engagement of our infantry
any earlier, and it is fair for the historian
to infer that as neither commander nor
any officer gives any account of general
engagement previous too II. III. that there
could at least have been nothing more than
a skirmish line formed. 3. Again, Gen.
Williams says: Our center. was compelled
to give way, but Withdrew handsomely
upon the right and left wings" Gen.
-, luf a
(the Union troops broke and attempted
to escape, etc. Again, he says: during
the night of the 10th reliable information
reached me that a brigade of Indiana
infantry CWilcoX'sj passing through Gum
berland Gap, TaZewcll, and MOrrlstown,
had arrived at Blue Springs and were be
ing placed in position to engage US next
morning
Now. this is Gen. Williams's report.
that Wilcox's Brigade of Indiana troops
arrived at night, and this was after the
engagement.
Again he says: Il informed you Gen.
Sam jones' that the enemy in my i'm
mediate front was at least o,ooo strong
with reinforcements coming up, etc
This was at dark. He also speaks of one
of our Union brigadcs being sent around
TO head him off lie then tells Of his
retreat and of the affairs when he met
Col Fosters Brigade. George ID. Mos
grove gave a good account of that affair
From Mosgrove's account and Gen. Will
iams's report the Confederate force was
not nearly so strong as it had been re-
ported. Now, regarding this controversy
of the forces engaged as Capt. Allen hrSt
attacked my article because of what he
termed bootleg information" l have con
Quoted my part of the controversy by the
official reports, according TO winch | was
fully justified in doubling that lO,OOO
Union men were engaged ip that fight,
or even near the field when the real fight
was on. Instead of the whole of the
Ninth Corps being present, their own item
erary shows that only the First DIVISION
was present, and this, Burnside says, was
the attacking force. While he does not
mention Wilcox's command, and Gen.
Williams only mentions it as an Indiana
Brigade, which arrived after night, ready
to attack next morning, when the Con
federates were many miles distant. If l
was mistaken III presumIng that there
were not 10000 Union troops on that bat
tlefield, / am at least sustained by the
official reports on both sides, and Capt.
Allen himself discredited bootleg infor
nation" which constitutes every particle
of proof which his supporters have ad-
vanccd.
As for myself, while ! do accept the
official reports as correct, until by com
petent testimony they are discredited, yet
mated "bootleg information" is the
statements of comrades and regimcntal
historians-unless they are so unrcasOn-
able and contradictory of official evidence
as to discredit themselves; so | must be-
lieve COmrade Loring and COmrade Dag
ger, that they must have been there, as
they say, but as to the number of their
forces, as they have nothing but their own
estimate to rely upon, we ali know that
a comrades estimate of the brigade or di-
vision to which he belonged is very uncer-
tain, unless he has some official record to
rely upon 1t strikes me that in the fact
that neither commander noticed their pres
ence previous to or during the fight,
their numbers present could scarcely be
as large as they guessed them to be. /
must say guess" in the absence of reli-
able proof. .l-.
AS to the history of the 18th Ill. Cav,
which there has been such a labored eff
fort to discredit, gave in a former
article what it said of the Henderson
Station and Rheatown affair. That was
no concern of Capt. Aliens, nor his sup
porters, and here | give what it says of
Blue Springs: "Oct 10. We were in the
rear or rather the front, of large force
of the enemy that Shackelford with his
cavalry and body OF infantry had badly
whipped at Blue Springs, and were now
driving them" Comrades, pitch into the
record of my history and discredit it all
you can; that is the way to get correct
history. / hope the Blue Springs fight
will be thoroughly ventiated.-W. l.. |
A .-t