The National tribune., 1902-10-16

der No. 40, it is unnecessary to speak.
Gen. Mcclellan exhausted the subject of
Halleck's competency to fill the position
he occupied when he characterized Hal
leck as "a General without single cor
rect ilitary idea"
General Order No. 40 was only a blum
der made by a General in a high position
who possessed remarkable genius for
laundering; but Halleck's incompetency
furnished Gen. Meade with no reasonable
excuse for the part he played in the mat
ter. Gen. Meade had the authority to set
aside Halleck's order in this case, but in
stead of doing SO he played the part of a
petty tyrant and thus made Order No.
49 with all its attendent consequences his
own. and in this instance, as in 80 per
cent. of military blunders, the awful con-
sequences fell not upon the unreasonable
General who made the blunder, but on the
devoted heads of the rank and file-on
the common soldier, who bore the burdens
without receiving the honors of war.
Tennyson's lines express the whole sub
ject in nut shell. No other stanza in
concise English verse contains a truism
more frequently and terribly demonstrated
in every stage of the worlds history. How
completely, with only slight modification,
it tells the story of the 1900 victims of
Halleck's order and Meade's inhumanity:
tInto the valley Of death
Marched the two thousand!
Though the soldiers well knew
That some one had blundered;
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die;
Into the valley OF death
Marched the two thousand"
The few changes made from the origi-
nal mars the rhyme slightly, but it tells
| thn yyhn COZ
As to the part taken by Gen. Meade
in refusing to consent to the parole, I had
the Confederate Colonels word that he so
refused, and have every reason to believe
the Colonel acted in good faith with us,
for after returning from Richmond read
these facts published in Washington and
New York papers, substantially as here
related, and in justification of Gen.
Meade's action it was further stated that
he believed Gen. Lee would be greatly
hampered by having such body Of prison.
ers on his hands, and that he (Meade) in
tended to recapture them before Lee could
succeed in getting them across the Poto-
mac.
Whatever Gen. Meade's intentions were
his action was not only terrible mistake,
but piece OF gross injustice and inhu-
manity, lacking in that generous sympathy
for the men of his command that should
always characterize a commanding Cen
erai, and also lacking in the prompt ac-
knowledgment of the gallant services these
soldiers had just rendered their country
and their General in the first great battle
wherein Gen. Meade was the Command.
ing General of the army.
These soldiers had fought as heroically
as men ever fought on American SOIL
History fails to point out the field where
any army or part of an army, ancient Or
modern, displayed greater degree of de-
votion and soldierly endurance than was
displayed by the troops that contested the
field with Lees army on July l at Gettys-
burg. by unf1inching valOr they held in
check the bulk Of Lees army for long and
weary hours, thus giving Meade a chance
to secure and concentrate his army in q
strong and advantageous position, and re-
treated only when further resistance was
hopeless. These prisoners were among
the last to quit the field northwest of
Gettysburg, and surrendered when every
avenue OF escape was cut off, and when
| further fighting on their part would have
| been madness.
Did they not merit some consideration
by the General commanding? One word
from Gen. Meade would have given them
| their liberty, but that one word Gen.
Meade refused to speak in their favor
Would you know how these soldiers or
| great majority of them, were rewarded
| for their gallantry and obedience? Go
where the zephyrs of the Southland chant
their sad requiems through her weird and
desolate charnel fields. that keep in ever
lasting remembrance and in eternal In
fanny the blackest pages of Southern his
tory, written in horror and in blood at
Belle Isle, in Libby, in Salisbury and in
Andersonville, and count there the slabs
that mark the lowiy mounds where they
lie buried!
WITH LEES RETREAT.
Lee commenced the removal Of his
wounded from Gettysburg on the night
Of July 8, and on the morning of July 4
we prisoners Of war were hustled off in
southwesterly direction via the Hagers-
| town road toward the Potomac. 1t began
raining the night Of the Sd and continued
to rain nearly all the time during the 4th.
have celebrated our great National holi-
day In various places, and sometimes un-
der peculiar and discouraging surround
ings, during the past 60 years, but can
truly say. that Of all the glorious Fourths
ever enjoyed this. was the most inglorious
and unenjoyable.