The National tribune., 1907-09-05
GEN. C. p. STONE IN THE SOUTH.
He Was the Only High Officer in BanksS
Army Who Had Any Fight i'm Him.

He Was the Only High Officer in Hanks =
Army Who Had Any Fight in Hin.
Editor National Tribune: l trust you
will excuse a few lines from comrade
and reader of your intensely interest
ing histories of various campaigns Oh
our late rebellion. l have often felt like
writing in regard to some of them, espe-
cialIy of those in which L took part. but
only did so once. In your last Bali :
Bluff ! feel you are not quite just to
Gen. Charles p. Stone. 1t seems 10 me
he had suffered enough, and unjustly.
too. for Balls Bluff, without an unkind
reference TO him in the Red River
campaign of 1864 under Gen Banks.
/ commanded the Third Brigade in
the Third Division of Gen. A. ]. Smiths
command Sixteenth Corps, in that
campaign, and in it met Gen. Stone for
the first time, tho / was perfectly IA
miiiar with his history from Balls Bluh
I'D to that time. / unheSitatingly say
that he was the only officer of any rank
in the Banks portion of that army that
was not afflicted with the Bull Run
panic Oh April 9, the day after the
battle of Mansfield, or Sabine Cross
roads, in which Gen. Ransom was
wounded. To understand the situation
allow me to state that the entire COM
mand under Banks had been encamp-
ed at Grand Ecore, SO miles southeast
of Red River, at Pleasant Hill battle
field fought by Gen. A. ]. Smiths COM
mand, April I, 1864, and the commands
were moved out of that camp as fol-
lows: The cavalry, under Gen. A. L.
Lee, April 4 a detachment Of the Thir-
teenth Corps under Gen. Ransom, the
9th; the Nineteenth Corps, under Gen
Franklin, the 9th, and two small divi-
sions, under Gems. ]. A. Mower and L.
K Smith, composing Gen. A. ]. Smiths
command the 9TH, thus separating
these commands by days march, and
on the afternoon of the Sth we heard
the ominous boom of cannon that told
of a deadly battle going on in front 10
or IL miles away.
We at once left all our wagons 80,
and Gen Bauks's headquarters teams.
80 also, that had been left in our
charge, and moved on at quick pace.
This was kept up until dark, when we
met the advance of the cavalry with
Ransom's and Franklin's defeated COM
mands on the retreat.
In a council of war it was soon de-
cided that our command, Gen. A. j.
Smiths. as enumerated above, should
cover the retreat, the following day,
April 9, assisted by few cavalry and
battery from the Banks portion of
the command.
We were in line long before daylight
and ready for battle but the Confed-
eTdUSS uHutE utIlS- NiiDy Dliiisil Gnu
Dick Taylor did not attack us vigorous
ly until about p. m, when they came
out of a dense forest with their usual
yep and yell, like tornado of fire.
AS our command had never been STAN
peded, we met them with weil-directtd
volleys, and from rifles and belching
canister. As they had had an easy time
of it the day before they were stunned
by their reception.
1t was here in this battle that saw
Gen. Stone, the only officer of Banks's
portion of the army that remained with
u.s. Smiths command, to conduct the
retreat I had captured a Confederate
battery, and delivered it to him by my
Assistant Adjutant-General. Lieut.. s.
H. Deneen, father of G. A. Deneen,
present Governor of Illinois, and by
Capt. L. w. Moore. of the 49th Ill,
formerly Col. w. r. Morrison's regi-
ment. I learned from Gen. Stone then
that Gen. Franklins entire command
was 10 miles on the retreat, but he had
sent a runner after Banks, Franklin
and Emory, advising them of our COM
plete victory. as the rebels We're then
in pell-me1l retreat, and stating that
Gen. Banks's entire force would return,
and we would follow up our victory to
Shreveport, our original destination. BY
his direction I followed the retreating
Confederates several miles; so also did
Col. Lynch's Brigade of our command.
Many of the Confederates did not
stop until 90 miles from the field of
their defeat, as 1 have learned from
many of them here. Banks. however,
refused to ratify Gen. Stones orders,
and continued his retreat and ordered
us to follow. We obeyed this humiliat-
ing order. and returned to Grand Ecore,
36 miles without a gun being fired
on us.
/ met Gen. Banks years afterwards
in Washington, when he was a member
of the House: I think il was in 1889
] had a full talk with him about that
campaign. He expressed the wish that
he had complied with Gen. Stones re-
quest TO return and follow the Confed-
crates into Texas. and claimed that he
would have done so but for the oppo-
sition of Gems. Franklin and Emory.
Had he done so he would not have been
guilty Of this shameful retreat, after the
brilliant v.-tory at Pleasant Hill, and
he would have saved Gen. Steele from
defeat also. who was then on his way
from Arkansas TO meet us at Shreve-
port La
Gen. Banks told me then he would
make statement giving all the facts,
that would place the blame where il
belonged, on Franklin and Emory, and
would do justice to the much perse-
cuted Gen. Stone. but he never did it
r. NJ. Moore. Colonel, 117th Ill. in
command of the Third Brigade. Third
Division. Sixteenth Corps, in the Red
River Campaign of 1864, San Antonio