The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-04-03
DUELL0.
in T HE WAR
Facts Connecting the Names Names q
TWO Distinguished Generals Generals
81 the Cot,federacy.
HILL 8 LoNGsTREET At ODDS
Discussion Of the Incidents Of a
NIuch-Talkccl-of Atfair-]2e-
,,,i,,iscences and Anecdotes.
,ur,tten for The rimcs-Dispatch.)

1 vi I. j 81 F. d
rzur,.,en Tor The Times -Dispatch.)
351, tha sketch Of General Longstree.
~, published soon after his lamehted
l,o,th there is revived the old story OIL a
III, /, ,ro,-lv ayerted duel between Long
street and a. F. FILL.
THE first time ever henrd t lc st s's
Mas not long after the unwilling Oh me
monument TO a. T. Hill. when INC lol1
!, rnr version OF 1t appeared IN the
Washington Post:
",rhe battle of Gaillcs's MIL was alou5 y.
AMI won almost exclusively Wy l L''ii'
.,raet,s Georgia soldiers. a paper pun
lished in Richmond, callea the h l',i.l,,n
III 1..yan miner. printed very eNtehslNe ~ -
srrintion of The battle, but gave all the
,sroIit to General A. p. Hill, VINO WAS
,isn In tho fight. The paper gave inc
I.aorria general and the Georgia soldiers
M praise at all, LonsstreetS auju'a' '.
raIIc,, his attention TO 1T With u Vclictilehl
rotest Tho men were all anscrcd til;tl
/. = ftarS winning such q. hard fought pa'tie
,hey should be robbed OF their rishtsul
claim 10 victory. Longstreet oIderreu 1i'ss
adiutant 10 reply to 1t officially lA tIe
Same paper, which he did. General IN,
,.r,,te 10 find out who it was who had
.,a,,,,,,od hts account Of the battle as
false, and Longstreet, somewhat pro
,o,Scd wrote on the back of Hills let
Ter that he himself did II.
This with the manner in which 1t was
GIVEN caused Hill to send challenge
g 10 Lon s treet which Lees Old war morse
was duck to accept. Everything WAS pc
ing arranged for the fight when Lee
heard of it, and rushed IN upon the
ecene, and commanded Lonsstreet 70 &c
= sist or he would send him from the army
1onrstreet said he ccud not withdraw
his acceptance of the chailehse uii.ii .''e
challenge was withdrawn. BY Interior
ference the challenge was withdrawn,
and the duel declared off
THE CASE.
was very much surprised when l
saw this statement. as my relations TO
General Hill and his staff had been sHch
that | thought ! certainly should have
heard of it if any such challenge had
Fpassed between these distinguished sol
diers.
There was family connection between
"A. F. Hills family and my own, which
brought me- into Intimate relations with
him before the war. The first year Of the
war / was a private soldier in Hills reg
iment-the Thirteenth Nirgnia-and by
the kind courtesy OF the colonel had
very free access To his headquarters.
In November, 1853. l went as missionary
chaplain 10 Hll's corps, messed with one
r OF Hills chief staff officers. and had fire.
ulIent talks with the General and mem
bers Of his staff. 1t seemed to me. there
fore, that If there had been anything III
this threatened duel should have heard
al least some ausion to It.
~ coll Of, ali
wrote to Colonel William II. Palmer
(who served 50 CALAMITY and so faithfully
on General Hills staff who was. indeed
his adjutant- general and his confidential
staff officer and friendl, and enclosing
the slip from the Post asked him to tell
me whether there was anything In t.
We wrote reply which seems to me to
settle the matter, which ! pnrposed pub
fishing at the time, but was prevented
by certain considerations from doing so
But now that the matter has come up
again, ] have gotten Colonel Palmcrs
consent TO publish his clear and conclu-
sve statement,
QUOTE COLONEL PALMER,
The Colonel says
about the newspaper clipping whicl
you enclose from the Washington Post
] never heard of a challenge, or pro
posed duel between General Longslree
and General lin before.
II served General Hill as his adjutant
general while he WAS II hrisadiei-Be
My regiment, the First Virginia intantr,
elected me ma Tor and as General Hi
could not give me that rank, be advise
me TO accept the promotion, but IN par
Ing told mo that he wanted me viii, hin
and as soon as he could offer me an II
creased rank he would apply tor IN
served in the battle or WilliamsbuT
with my regiment ana IN the eyenil
commanded It. Colonel Williams belr
wounded, After the battles around Ricl
mond ! went over to Tree Hill 10 cf
on General Hin, his division being campt
IN The neighboIhpnd. aud found Gencr
joseph r. Anderson IN command al
was Told that General liill had hes
placed in arrest by order of Genet
Lonsstreet. No one knew The cause
tho arrest, met General I'm soon a
forwards IN the road, and he NAG as Rn
rant OF the cause Of his arrest as II
officers at his quarters He added
have demanded tho charges, and siit
irsist upon an immediate trial A "a
or two after | went oyer again n
charges wer. violation OF section - A
ticles of War-'Allowing or permitting
member Of his staff to write fnr I
newspaGers an account of the operate
Of his division 10 Tie injury OF ]
brother officers, etc, etc
ITO AN ordinary man such charg
would have been treated With the sllei
that they deserved II Was inconceiNal
~ him that any human being could
lava him puIlty of such unofilCer-N