The National tribune., 1904-09-01
THE NINTH CORPS AT PETERSBURG.
A Mastery Defense Against Swinton's Inac
curacies.

A Mastery Defense Against Swinton's Inac-
curacies.
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: l have been
reading with great interest the series or
articles published in your paper entitled.
Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac.
ticles as valuable both as a statement of
the facts relating to the history of the
Army of the Potomac, and also for the
deductions which the author draws from
the facts which he states. But the value of
MIR. Swinton's history is seriously impaired
by his method OF dealing with the part
taken by the Ninth Corps in the campaigns
of which he writes. 1t is very evident that
Mr.. Swinton has a deep-seated prejudice
against both that corps and its commander.
and this leads him not only to make wrong
deductions from the facts which he states.
but also to inaccuracies in his statement
of the facts.
His account of the Mine affair furnishes
a good illustration of the truth of this
statement. The facts in regard to that
unfortunate event and the reasons for the
failure of the Union army to achieve a
notable success on that occasion all appear
in the report of the investigation made by
the Committee on the Conduct of the War,
appointed by the two Houses of Congress.
That committee was composed of men who
had no cause for doing anything except
exact justice to all who were involved !;
while it is fact. as learned by every one
who served in the Union arm during the
civil war. that the jealOuSieS existing among
the officers, both volunteer and regular,
were such as to make the conclusions of a
court of inquiry of at least doubtful value.
Granting. however. that the commander of
the Ninth Corps was seriously in fault in
his preparation for the movement against
the enemy's works at the time of the Mine
explosion. there is not the slightest reason
fnr no in l.
IDENTITY seeks to have his readers draw from
his comment on that affair. that the soldiers
COMPOSING that corps were in any way
lacking in the performance of their duty
on that occasion.
FACTS AGAINST CONCLUSIONS.
The facts which Mr.. Swinton states in
his account of the battle wholly destroy
his conclusions. 1t is not my purpose to
enter into a discussion of the causes of the
failure of our army to achieve. success on
the occasion referred to. The report of
the Committee on the Conduct of the War,
to which l have referred, does this at
length But coming again to Mr.. Swim
tons account of the affair." he states (and
his statement is unqueStionably true) that
the commander of the leading division or
dered his men forward to the first line of
the enemy's works, which had been de-
stroyed by the explosion. and there halted
them. and for a long time thereafter gave
no order to advance and made no effort to
lead his men to the crest. 1t is not very
evident how men could be blamed for not
doing that which they were ordered not to
do And this failure on the part of the
first division made the rest that followed
a matter of course. With that division in
the way there could be no successful effort
on the part of the other divisions which
could reach farther than the line of the
First Division. until after delay of so
long period that the successful execution
of the contemplated movement became i'm
possible. That affair has been described
by so many who took part therein, and
who are men of unquestiOned veracty. that
| risk nothing by asserting that with very
few exceptions every regiment in the Ninth
Corps did on that occasion all that the men
in any corps in the Army of the Potomac,
or IN any other army. could possibly have
done, and that they showed as much BRAY
cry, steadfastness and perseverance as it
was possible for men to exhibit under the
circumstances.
l was not a participant in that battle,
being at the time necessarily absent from
personal interest in defending those who
were engaged: but i'm the interest Of truth
and justice it seems to me that the state
ments of Mr.. Swinton ought not to pass
unchalenged.
ASSAULT on FORT STEDMAN
In his account of the assault on Fort
Stedman. the prejudice Of the writer of
the articles referred to. the grOundlessness
of his deductions, and the inaccuracy of
his statements are as evident as in his ac-
count of the Mine affair. In the story
which he tells of the assault upon Fort
Stedman he says: A rush of a few
moments brought the Confederates to the
Union intrenchments. which must have
been guarded with little vigilance" Had
the writer of that article consulted Il work
as common and accessible as the Official
Records of the Union and Confederate
Armies in the War of the Rebellion pub
liShed by the Government, he would have
seen that there was no ground whatever
for this latter statement. Col. McIaugh-
len. who was then commanding the Third
brigade of the First Division Of the Ninth
CORPS, in his report. found in Volume
NLFl of the work above referred to- Part
/, pages 331. $50, states the truth of the
matter. though not as extensively as it
might have been done. Col. McIaughlen
says of the men under his command:
"All were vigilant and on the alert, both
officers and men, and all was done that lay
within the bounds of possibility"
Col. McLaughlen then refers to a fact
which was well known to every one who
was present at the affair at Fort Stedman :;
namely. that shortly before this an order
had been issued. by the terms of which
Confederate soldiers DESERVING and coming
within our lines would be recompensed for
the arms which they should bring with
them. Taking advantage of this fact. the
enemy during the night of March "a, 1863
anDrOached the picket posts in front of
Fort Stedman in the guise of deserters
with arms. and when at each post a suffi-
cicnt number of these pretended ieserters
had gathered. they overpOwered the men in
the picket posts. and thus left the way
open for entering the fort without let or
hindrance. except from the guard on duty.
which would have been amply sufficient had
not the pckets been surprised and captured
in the manner indicated.
BATTERY NINE.
Mr.. Swinton also says: The guns of
the captured redoubt were Immediately
turned by the Confedelates on the neigh
boring works, and in consequence Batteries
y, ~ and IL on its flank were abandoned
by the Union troops and captured by the
enemy"
This statement is also inaccurate SO far
as it refers to Battery ., and this error is
the more noteworthy because of the fact