The National tribune., 1902-12-18

to attack them rs soon as they were all
there. for he had failed to destroy the II;
brigades while the 26 brigades were aroun,;
US, but it was shown that neither Lee nor
Jackson was Frederick the Great,
Napoleon, q Biucher a Moltke n Grant.
Sherman, or Sheridan, for if either had
been any of those. they weuld not have
marched back to Antietam. but with ut
least Il bricadeS would have crossed the
Potomac at the Point Of Rocks and fallen
on McClellan's rear and base of supplies.
then at Frederick, Md, and placed them
selves between McCleIlan's army, with
Baltimore and Washington at their mercy.
But this country was not to be divided
hence Lee and Jackson did not grasp the
opportunity, with less risk against MeClel-
Ian then at Antietam.
Part of Walkers and A. P Hills Divi-
sions marched nj, day and night on tle
10th to get back to Maryland to help Lee,
and a. l.. Hill was very anxious to get
the prisoners off his hands. D'Utassy. to
Whose brigade We belonged. believing that
everything WAS fair in love ard war, re-
ported early in the morning of the 10th
at A. l.. Hills headquarters. and asked
tor Il pass Tor his brigade through his lines
The Confederate General was still in his
siumbers, and asked D'Utassy whether he
and his officers had signed the parole Mt
Gen. Anderson's headquarters D'Utassy
siho"ticu ana Hill
dered the pass issued. Not word of
DUtassys WIS true. lie lad simply lied
his Way ont of the enemy's clutches But
at the exchange his. lying availed him not.
lie also had a number of horses and mules
passed out as his private property, by
hanging the blankets over tie backs of the
animals. lie afterward claimed these az
his own. but as one of his enemies, an OIL
Ger of his regiment had furnished the
frOVarflmpJ,r with inf H..
hauled before the court and sent to Sing
Sing for the rest of the war. There were
others equally guilty, but their subor-
dinates did not inform the Government,
end by the recoyery-of the animals tie
incident closed for them.
On the second day of our march, Sent.
IL, we reached Fred arick. and every nook
and corner vi -re Lee and Jackson and
Longstreet had slept. and dined and wined
was closely watched and examined by us.
But to my positive recollection the old
German woman, barbara Fritchie- had
not been heard of. That heroine. like
many heroes since the war, had not then
had time to be manufactured, and to me.
at least. the whole story about her is the
sheerest rot. for as our battery had large
humber of Germans, / among them. we
conyersed with many Germans i'm Fred
erick, who told us many stories, bui not
one word about Barbara Fritcliie and her
flag. Other false reports on the Confed-
crate side, is the claim of the capture of
y cannon at Harper's Ferry. The truth
IS, that only AZ pieces were captured. The
rest We're old iron and brass. left there as
worthless by the Confederates when the
Ferry was vacated by Gen. Joseph Z,
Johnston. in 1861. and of no value to US,
or to the enemy, but in the roundup for
Jackson's glory they were counted.
Harper's Ferry would have been re-
lieved, If Gen. Franklin had shown lit
tie more energy to get to us with his corps:
but it is due TO Gen. Slocum. one of his
division commanders, that he alone showed
any energy on the morning of Sept 1j to
help us. Franklin intended to wait until
the fog had disappeared, and therefore did
not move. The cause of the surrender was
not the fault of Miles and his men, but
the authorities in Washington, and Gen
Mcclellan, then commanding the Army of
the Potomac. nearly 100000 strong. 1t is
due to Mcclellan that before he left WASH
lngton he recommended the withdrawal of
Miles from Harper's Ferry to Hagerstown.
or to Maryland Hights, then to destroy
the pontoon bridges across the Potomac.
and hold out to the last, but the Wash
ington authorities did not concur in this
suggestion, and simply relied on McCleI-
lan's activity to relieve Miles. and sent in
structions to the latter to hold Harper's
Ferry. One of the amusing incidents at
the Iiarper's Ferry surrender was a New
ork State militia regiment, wherein each
member carried his pet cat. The Con-
federates permitted them to carry their
pets home, but retained their fine Spring
held rifles for further use on their side
)f the cause,