Fitzgerald enterprise. (Fitzgerald, Ga.) 1895-1912, 1911-10-28

COLONEL z. D. BAKER, Q. S. A, KILLED
BIZ A SHAhPaHOOTER AT BALLS BLUFF.
wooded hills beyond the ravine COM
handed the whole so perfectly that
should they be occupied by the enemy
he would be destroyed, and l advised
an immediate advance of the whole
force to occupy the hills. which were
not then occupied by the enemy. L
told him that the whole action must
be on our left and that we must oc-
cupy those hills. No attention was
apparently paid to this advice, and
Colonel Baker ordered me to take
charge of the artillery, but without
any definite instructions as to its
service.
about twenty minutes afterward
the hills on the left to which | had
called attention were occupied by the
enemy's sIirmishers, who Immediate
ly opened sharp fire ON our left. l
Immediately directed the artillery to
open fire on those skirmishers."
"Atrocious Military Murder"
Bakers death threw the troops into
confusion by depriving them OF
head just at trying time His con-
| duct in rushing into the enemy's fire
was brave or rash according to ones
ideas of the duty of a commander. 1t
is an axiom that one bad general is
better than two good ones. AS soon
as Baker fell the other colonies for a
| time acted each on his own hook with
out concert or action
Baker was a United States senator
| from California. He had declined
com,g:esion as brigadier general and
! had one as ma Tor general under con-
! sideratiOn at the time of his death.
| Congress called upon President LIN
coin to investigate the Balls Bluff
| disaster, and when he declined to do
| so it appointed the famous joint COM
mittee on the conduct OF the war.
with instructions to investigate "thc
! most atrociOus military murder in MS
tory" About this time General Stone
! came under a cloud in Il manner not
connected with the battle of Oct. Il,
| but he was arrested by order of the
| secretary of war and confined in Fort
Lafayette, New York harbor. He was
examined before the committee on the
! conduct of the war, but no charges
were preferred against him. He was
released after seven months imprlson-
ment and subsequently restored to ac-
tive service under General Banks in
the west After the war he became
noted as "Stone Pasha' in the army
! of the khedive.
The Judgment of military men upon
| Stones responsibility for Balls Bluff
was that he acted throughout the af-
| fair under a misrepresentation He sup
| posed another Federal division under
| General G. A. Mccall. marching up the
| Potomac on the Virginia side, was
pushing the Confederates back from
| the river south Of Balls Bluff and Cor
mans camp at Edwards Ferry: that
| the commander of the army wished
! him to take Leesburg, a point four
| miles inland from the battlefield of
Balls Bluff, and that there were no
! Confederates In any force in that vi
cinity, as his scouts truthfully report
| ed. But the Confederates could move
on shorter lines. They deceived Stones
| subordinate, German, at Edwards Fer
q. and ignorance or negligence. per-
! haps both, led TO the disaster at Balls
Bluff. Baker had discretion in his or
ders from Stone to call Devens back
from the Virginia shore or reinforce
him there and fight. He chose to
| fight.
Strangely enough, the Confederate
reader at Balls Bluff acted upon his
own discretion in bringing on the bat
tie. He took the field without the
knowledge of his superiors for the