The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-03-31
TWENTY SECOND
NOT .DI5BAuDED
Records Don't Show That Gen
eral Lee Dismissed in Disgrace
the Virginia Battalion.
COL. TAYLoR's STATEMENT
Nothing About Bad Conduct II
the Famous Special Order
No. 500.

!, NO. 3o3.
3 Editor OF The Times Ditpatch
Sir,-On the 18th instant l wrote to
Colonel w. IA. Taylor. formerly OF
General Lees staff, nnd now Of Norfolk,
asking information in regard to
dlsbanded battalion by order OF General
n, E. Lee for misconduct, as stated, as
to the identity Of which there have
teen so many inquiries.
/ also asked LIN the location Of the
house occupies by General Lee as
Headquarters At Gettysburg, as differ
Ecnt buildings had been named Also
+ stating that Colonel Long, the battle
field lecturer, in September last, when,
III asked him while standing on Little.
Y Round Top, to point out the house
used by General Lee as headquarters,
replied: Neither history nor tradition
has ever located any house occupied
4 by him While here" Colonel Taylor.
confirms his statement, saying that
General Lee at Gettysburg ''camped, as
usual"
Now, in regard to the dismissed bat
TALON: After receiving Colonel Tay-l
d tors letter i interviewed two men here
who belonged to the Twenty second
Virginia Battalion of Infantry, and
they say it was never disbanded. They
[ state that there was q company (Bail-s
sgeS,sl In t-.pfs boys under eighteen anH,
i men over forty-nves yenrs old, WHO
were mustered in the Confederate ser-i
vice with the understanding that the
company should be stationed In tho
i Qualifications around Richmond. That
when ordered for service in the Acid
this company claimed the agreement
with authorities, and refused to go,
took a vote, and only three men voted
In favor OF going in iold service. This
company was then disbanded.
What History Says.
In the Confederate Military History,
3 by General Clement A. Evans, OF
~ Georgia, Volume III, on page $50, Civ
ing list Of Virginia troops in tho
Confederate States Army, complied in
the War Records Office, United States
War Department, it is stated that the
Second Heavy Artillery Regiment
(Home Artillery, or Virginia Home Ar
tillery) became the Twenty-second
& Battalion. Virginia Infantry May 80
1Sh2;; Burwell, w. p, major; Panniil
Joseph,j lieutenant-coloncl, and Tan-
sill, Robert colcGel. I.
In the same hdolS,"at another time. O,
page 564 is mentioned: Twenty seconc
Infantry Battalion (fornied from Sec,
ond Virginia Artillery; Bowlcs join
S., major; Johnson, James c., lieuten
ant-colonel; Tayloe, Edward Poinsett
licutennn colonel.
General Longstreet in Ills book
mentions Twenty-second Virginia Bat
Es talon of Infantry as being at Sharps
burg in Fields Brigade
@l, On page l240, Volume AZ, OF "Rebel
lion Records the Twenty second Yir
Einia Battalion of Infantry appears Il
Walkers Brigade on November 30
1864,
Special Order 3o3. .
In the same records, VolumesA2 Par
3. Series /. page 1883. I find tho spe
clal order No. 500, which. copy lit
orally, and it is a little different fror
the North Carolina publication, ! giY
date:
kpecial Order Nd. 500.
$40 jutant and 1nspcctor-General's
e ~ sNas4 Office, Richmond, Va.
December 22N1S64.
6 II ". The Txenty- second Battalion, Vii
ginia VOLUNTEERS, is hereby dlsban1et
The men composing it will be distrl
S8b,lted among the depleted orgnniza
fions under the direction OF tho con-
T naandinis general. The commissions &
ii n the officers Of the battalion are vacatel
3ss8 to take effect from this date,
rs IN H5ait5'
81 snFsy command Of the Secretary of Wa
JOHN WRITER'S, sN
M Assistant Acknowledgement.
AS you VIII observe, there As not
word about bad conduct, and it
dated just little over ninety da,
before the surrender, on April 0. 1SG
& when General Lees mind was not
ssai djshanding battalions.
III They Were at Appomattox.
la5s s3i But let us zee II this battalion W,
disbanded, In the Southern Historic
Society Papers Volume Ky. contai
Ing paroles of the Army OF Nofthe
Virginia. surrendered at Appomatt,
Courthouse April Q, 1865, copied fro
n the duplicate of the original in I
Il. archives of Southern Historical s
X III cfety Papers. published In 1887. In TIL
pnblicationhit IL shown that the 1--WE
ty-second Virginia battalion OF Infa
8 try surrendered, and the followii
soldiers Of It were there paroled; Y.
Chapel, Company ~; -. w. Mar
company "A: q, W. Holt. Company
TIA. Glabprne,4 n, J. Claiborne Gonna
A:gand W. l.. Mahon and w. q. Pull
included nsllst Of Twenty-secpnd Y
g Kinia Battalion Infantry. This seel
clear thatTtiiere IL error about Il
Battalion of Yirginians being dlsban
al nv Co m nj. for 1,o1