Saint Mary's beacon., 1904-07-14
(Writtea for The Beacoa.)
FoRGOTTEN HEROES.
RALrr,soaE, MD, June, 1870


his comrade, Jim Breathed, he isal-
most unknown to the Confederate
Society. In fact, until recently,
when I'll. III. Matthews wrote those
splendid articles, his personal re-
Of Breathed, Breathed
and his peerless Battery of Mary
landers were regarded here in their
native State as merely brilliant myth
ical heroes from the imagination Of
It. Col. John Esten Cooke. In the
first edition OF the History Of the
Line" the joint product
OF the military knowledge of this
Society, you will find
Breathed the last among the Mary
land heroes-Gus Dorsey omitted.
In their last and much enlarged
History" Breathed. the myth, is
replaced by a real hero (see X. Ros-
ter) Geo. II. Gather. To more fully
matters l will quote a few
brilliant words from that thing of
beauty and JOY forever, the ad-
dress delivered at the unwilling of
the Confederate monument on Mt.
Royal Avenue, this city, May 2nd,
1903, by Capt. George w. Boothe,
President Confederate Society"
Gather and Gus Dorsey won a no
mean reputation in the First Vir-
ginia Cavalry" (see K Roster).
Again, mentioning the Captains and
Lieutenants of the First Maryland
- They with their COM
mands broke through the Federal line
at Appomattox, and by q yild, last
charge, placed Themselves outside the
line, (they had already broken
through embodied in their surren
der. Their division commander,
Gen. Mumford, in bidding Jare,oeH,
&c. Do you note the great compli-
ment to Gather ? and that, accord
ing to Captain Booth, Gus Dor
sey served only in the First Vir-
ginia Cavalry, did not command the
First Maryland Cavalry, was not at
Appomattox and did not receive
Gen. Tom Mumford s magnificent let
ter, the Victoria Cross of the First
Maryland, disbaRdiRq that command ?
What think We X and Breathed of
that? In the Baltimore Ne,cs of the
same date, the anniversary of Chan
cellOrsville, can be found Maj. Moor
man S claim that his battery was tie
one used in Stonewall Jackson s cy-
clonic advance on Hooker in that
battle, and this 0iaring story Of Breath
eds 3 inch thunder icos Endorsed by two
Historians" of that Society as
. Historically and otherwise cor
rect, when any man of average mil
litary intelligence knows that the
official Records show beyond all dis
pute, that the only Horse Artillery
used in the advance that day, the
only Battery used until the pur-
suit was checked by darkness, was
the most famous battery in the Con-
federacy, the admiration of friends
and every gallant foe, the ''Hor-
nets" commanded by Captain Jim
Breathed, Of whom Gen. Tom Mum
ford, the brave and brainy said,
He was as brave an officer and the
hardest fighting soldier the war
produced" Gus Dorsey and Jim
Breathed have received scant men,
tion aud less courtesy from this Con-
federate Society, but here is the es-
innate of them by Virginia s greatest
living soldier, the one most trusted
by Jackson and Jeb Stuart, for his
nerve, ability and reliability, Gen.
Thomas Taylor Mumford-"Gus
Dorsey and Jim Breathed would
compare with any two men on eth
er side in the Cavalry or Artillery.
whether they had been TO West
Point or not. They were born SOL
diers. (This is from o letter dated
Feb. 15, 1901. Gen. Tom Mumford
commanded ''Stonewall" Jackson s
cavalry after the death of Ashby;
was selected TO command the caval-
ry for Jackson in his daring dash on
Pope; commanded q brigade three
fourths OF the war, yet was not made
Brigadier General by that Richmond
gang, because Re tods roiHRteer, un-
Gil March, 1865, and then only by
the personal efforts of the great and
glorious, and always faithful to the
South, Lit. General Wade Hampton
who had practical daily knowledge
OF Mumford's great worth. Mum
ford, as Brig. General, commanded
Fitz Lees division in all that des-
perate fighting against terrible odds
from noon OF March 80, 1865, to April
3, 1865, disbdading his command
with which he had ''cut his way
through the Yankees at Appomat-
tox, on that date only because OF Joe
Johnston surrender on the 18th.
Mumford's Special Order, No. 6,
April 81, 1865, reassembling his
old brigade, is the most beautiful
thing ever penned, and this state
ment, in his letter to 1t. Col. Gus
Dorsey disbandiRg the First Mary
land, THE fame yon have won will
be guarded Ly Tirgiaia, proves that
Mumford was a prophet as well as a
soldier.
Yours truly,
FRANK DoRSry