Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1910-04-29
War Memories Revived.

III Il 1aulOuS dOuIGSS CudTIeS SUMMER
said Nobody sees battle Explain
ing what he meant, he proceeded, The
| common soldier fires away amid a smoke
mist, or hurrIeS on to the charge i'll a
| crowd which hides everything from him.
| The officer is too ANXIOUS about what
| he is especially charged with to heed
what others are doing. The command
er cannot be present everywhere, and
see every wood, Water-course, or ravlne,
| III when his orders are earned into eX-
| ecutiOn; he learns from reports how the
| work goes on
| This is all true, and it is because this
| is true that the full and authentic his
tories of great engagements are not writ
ten till the lapse of time after they were
| fought The persons best qualified to
write them would be the commanders,
but for the natural bias inherent i'll hui
man nature which IN most cases leads
| each commander to see in too high re-
! lief the elements of the encounter eX-
planning it's results in terms most cred
liable to himself. The best accounts are
| those which are carefully cOllated by
| impartial, competent writers familiar
with the scene of the engagement and
not too distant from it III time, yet not
so close as to be borne along OH tides of
prejudice. 1t took many years for Gen.
Fitz John Porter 10 get the justice OF
| a reversal of a wartime court-martlal
which did him grievous wrong.
| At an Garner date than that, but yet
! at a distance of twenty years from The
| War, the Century Magazine conducted
| an interesting and useful enterprise by
| enIisting SURVIVORS on both sides to write
| their recollections Of great engagements.
| Several old controversies as TO matters
! of face were revived; but the discus
sion increased the likelihood that ulti-
mate popular judgment would reach
| more closely the merits of the matters III
| dispute. and Il large body of fresh III
| formation contributing TO the understand
| ing of the War was placed before new
| generation.
Similar beneficial results are sure to
attend the work OF the WISCONSIN His
| tory Commission, whose publications are
| greatly appreciated by all classes OF
readers, and especially by the pupils of
the more advanced grades of the public
schools. The Commission so far has
| confined itself to making available to
supplement- formal histories of the war
period Among the publications of the
! Commission is the Narrative of Frank
! \ Haskell, who was first lieutenant OF
the Sixth Wisconsin Infantry and an
aide upon the staff of General John Glib
bon Lieutenant Haskell was Killed III
the advance of Gibbons Division at the
hattie of Cold HarbOr. He was a brave
Soldier and Il writer whose intense earn
psrness marks his literary style and gives
interest apart from the subject to eN-
erything coming from his pen. HIS ac-
count of the Battle of Gettysburg was
written a few days after that great en-
gagement, and sent to his brother, who
published the Narrative fifteen years lat
J err for private circulation. In 1880 II
was published as part of the history OF
| the Glass of 1854 at Dartmouth College.
The Wisconsin History Commission has
printed it practically as 1t left the au-
thor's hand. From the conditions under
which Lieutenant HaskelIs Narrative
originated it could not be free from en-
ror Some of its statements nave beeh
shown to be fantastic and utterly IN
founded But when due allowance al o an so IS
made for errors that the author hlmse1
no doubt would have corrected If he had
lived, the book is useful for the vivid
way in which it brings out many things
relating to the war. 1t belongs to the
class of materials that put life into the
dry homes of formal history. Formal
histories can be trusted TO cOunteract It's
errors and prevent them from doing any
harm.
The Philadelphia Brigade Association
has published pamphlet sharniy attack
ing the Haskell Narrative as foolish ana
absurd" because of statements and crltl-
cisms which Haskell would probably
have modified if he had lived to 60
over his hastily written manuscript. He
represents himself as having caught
Webb's Brigade in the act of running
away like rabbits and as rallylng them
and sending them back to their duty. The
pamphlet presents a duly authenticated
account of the work of the Philadelnh'a
Brigade ut Gettysburg and elsewhere
which fully attests its gallantry. Eventn-
allv the History Commission will pub
fish an account of the Eleventh Corps ut
Gettysburg by staff officer who served
in that CORPS. There can be no fault
found with the survivors of the Philadel
phia Brigade for defending their organ.
zation's splendid record. The Wisconsin,
History Commission has not intended t.
attack it or any other body Of Americans
who served in the war for the Union. Il
has merely undertaken to enrich the OPP
r}ortun ties Of students for arriving at ? n
understanding of the war by supplyin"
them with variety of first-hand materi
II bearing on the subject, some of which.
from its very nature. needs to be care
fully weighed.
L.