The National tribune., 1906-05-31
,ents. but when Mansaeld left the

ments. but when Mansfield left the
northwest corner to set his corps in
motion. the East Woods, II have right
ly Interpreted the report and coIre-
spondence, was still In possession of
Union troops. Probably, almost at the
same time that Mansfield quilted his
lookout. the Confederate Brigade of
out of West Woods, the Ath Ala.
on the right running up the Smoke
town road, as before stated, and enter
ing the woods at the southwest corner
where the Georgia battalion Joined on
its right. The movements OF all OF
Hoods troops were exceedingly rapid.
How much time elapsed from Mans
fields leaving his lookout to his being
wounded. 1 can only roughly estimate
at from IS to 90 minutes. but it was
time enough to change the condition
of affairs very materially, and 1 can
not help thinking the time passed very
quickly to him, and that he did not
realize the fact that the remnants of
Ricketts's Division had been driven out
of the woods and cornfield. nor even
did he suppose 1t was possible Wise
or unwise, 1t was entirely in keeping
with everything else the General did
during the three days he was with us.
for him to come himself and see what
we were doing; and. like everything
else, he did it with the utmost prompt
ness. 1t was this habit of personal at
tention to details, and his other char
acteristic of rapid flying here and there.
that make 1t difficult for many of
the soldiers of the Twelfth Corps to
believe he was wounded when and
where he was.
a Word I'm Closing.
In this narrative il has been impos-
sible to avoid frequent reference to
myself and to my regiment. but there
is nothing in the Mansfield incident of
special credit to any of us We were
there and saw it; we live and can prove
it; this is the whole story in a nutshell.
I have always regretted that I left
the regiment even on so important a
mission. At the time, 1 supposed II
was only to be for moment, and that
with three field officers on duty / could
be spared. AS for the regiment, we
succeeded so very much better later in
the war, that We have not been in the
habit of making great claims for the
part we took in Antietam. Many other
Union regiments fought longer. strug
gled harder, did more effective service
and lost more men than we.
The Confederates opposed to US ap-
peared to be equal to US in numbers
and they were superior in experience
and all that experience gives. On all
other fields, from the beginning to the
end of our long service, We never had
to face their equals. Everybody knows
that troops fighting under the eye OF
Stonewall Jackson, and directed by
Hood, were a terrible foe. Our partic-
ular opponents were all good marks
men, and the constant call of their Of
ficers, "Aim low" appeared to US en-
tirely unnecessary.
1t was an awful morning; our COM
rades went down one after another
with most dishearteniing frequency.
pierced with bullets from men who
were half concealed, or who lodged
quickly back to a safe cover the mo-
ment they fired. We think 1t was
enough for us to "hold our own till
Greene's men swept in with their -'ter
rible and overwhelming attack" Go)
From all this story. hope the reader
will see why the wounding of Gen
Mansfield, which is the all-impoi ,t.nt
part in this narrative, is only a second
ary matter to the men of the 10th Me,
and why Misrepresentation and errors
have gone undisputed SO many years.
We never considered it our business TO
set history Alright, until we saw that
oGr testimony was discreditei and
found our statement of fact treated as
only one of the many stories Of the
wagon-drivers of Sharpsburg.
15) Quotation from Maj. Robbins.