The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1909-01-01
THEGONI)UCT OF
GENERA. GRANT
Is Reviewed by General Alex
ander Before American
Historical Association.

HiStorlcal Assoc anon.
RICHMOND, Va. Jan, The fol-
lowing y an abstract Of a paper on
Grants Conduct 81 the Wilderness
camtaign. by General Edwari r.
Alexander before the American His
Etorical Association at RicbmonJ.
General Alexander referred 10
Grants aggressive campaign against
Lee Commenting upon the division
OF Grants army. d part 81 which.
the army Of sthe Potomac. was I'M
der Meade and a part. the eth Corps,
was under Burnside, he declared that
there are few axioms OF war better
established than those Which, condemn
divided commands and ii this case,
he added, Grant experience gave adj
ditional evidence Of the lack OF wis
ON Of such an Arrangement. Had it
not been for delay causedsby the
a,vlswa rSness OF having 10 look after
such q divided conlmana. General
Alexander believed that Grant .wouid
nave gone beyond the fields sof4 both,
the Wilderness ana Spaftsvlvani,.
probably d haf son a The behind
the North Anna (
II was Lees epllcy,. BE sSldE ito
fight MS BATTLES. w,her eSkar 81 the
wilderness ana N .iractically WIN, 4
victory bk brines ~ IongstFees 4 IL 4,
ftthe sette& In sjGs lie. nicks.o dime M
and aleshaps We moist say thai Grant
lost 'st Pss his family organization of
t.navingtw sepat4ate armies under
independent commanders operating
Fin the same field.
1T Is a little surprising TO find that
Grant, having the Initiative. and the
greater force OF artillery. did not
make an effort to get himself clear
!iof the. Wilderness before he encoun-
tered Lees army. Evidently, howey-
er. he considered himself abundant.y
able TO meet Lee on any ground. and.
finding him in the Wilderness, he Mt
once took the aggressive with such
vigor that had he had sufficient Gay
light he would have made Lee regret
! his mistake in locating his supporting
infantry under -Longstreet behind his
left flank instead Of Behind his right,
for he fully expected Grants attack
upon his right. as 1t actually occur
red. The Wilderness country was
vey fertile In the. tricks and surprises
as 1t had already shown itself. it
was now about to repeat upon each
of the combatants some of its fa-
nous tricks of the year before
Speaking of the events of May II.
1864. General Alexander said that
General Miles's movements across
the Potomac for the purpose of re-
connoitering was entirely nisunder-
stood by Lee, whb seemed to aritici-
pate an attack upon his right flank,
i as that night all the guns of the fed
eral forces We're ordered to be with
drawn at shutdown for movement
to the flank which could be quietly
made during the night
Continuing, he said; Orders were
sent to EACH chief ofsartillery to this
effect. but on the line oe Longstreets
corps ventured to accomplish the
same result, but still retain all my
guns in position. ] had visited every
battery and had the chests mounted.
and roads so improved in the rear,
that the guns could be handled 81
iently. Hilfs chief of artillery, Walk
.er. and Ewell's chief, General Long.
Withdrew during the night 90 gnns
of Pages. and Kershaw's- battalsohs
from the very lines which Grant was
preparing to assault In the morning.
The withdrawal OF these guns sras
the one fatal tactical mistake of this
whole campaign =.
Speaking of the engagement on the
morning of the 1cth which Cutler
said lasted four hours and in which
Griffen reported he was engaged for
three hours. General Alexander said
there was great hack Of detail con-
corning this event in Federal reports.
He had secured. however an official
report from the Confederate side
which, referring to this, tremendously
active engagement said. .Unfortu-
nately the commander of the battery
informed me thai, his orders were 70
save ammgnition, and to sfire only
when he Fasycertain oG doing execu-
tioa coyd not be certain of this,
aEd JeariAg that ammunition. might
be scarce ordered him to, cease firing.
and this saved .the lives oe many
Yankees. They kept up an active flu
siiade, indeed. a terrific roar OF
ylhusketry: all the while our men were
quietly sawaitlng their appearance
over the crest. This continued so
long tfor some hours) that we began
to suspect that by some happy mis-
take they were fighting themselves.
II seemed a heavy hattie and we had
nothing to do with T."