Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 03.djvu/206

196 soldiers never to use the revolver, as they are of very little use. The sabre is the only arm the cavalry need, if they are well drilled. There were no swords of my men that were not bloody; and I saw swords from which the blood was running down on the hand. The men were drilled very well. I had only six weeks from the time I had the first man sworn in service to the time we started for the field; but in those six weeks I brought them forward so far as I ever thought I should be able to do."  *   *   *   *

"By Mr. Chandler—Question. How many did you have wounded besides the fifteen killed?"

"Answer. I had twenty-eight wounded," &c. *  *

"Question. Do you know the number of the wounded of the enemy?"

"Answer. No, sir; I do dotnot [sic], but I heard that it was a great many; and that a great many of them would die, because they had mostly received heavy cuts on the head. All the dead were cut in the head. Some of the enemy behaved themselves very bravely indeed, but they were not able to hold up against this tremendous charge."

Zagonyi says in the course of two pages of testimony: "I found that the enemy, instead of having only 300 or 400, had 1,800 or 1,900." "After the battle was over, I found out there was indeed 2,200." "The probability was that there were 1,900 of the enemy."

In spite of the combined oriental exuberance and suspicious Falstaffian minuteness of this witness, not only less respectable annalists, but the Comte de Paris substantially accepts and adopts his story as a true narrative. The writer is assured, however, by those conversant with the facts, that Zagonyi's rhodomontade was merely the cloak for a disaster. He was ambuscaded by militia, not more numerous than his own command, and severely handled, with the loss of only two or three of his opponents.

If his story, or similar military reports, had been true, it was the wildest extravagance on the part of the United States to keep 60,000 or 80,000 men on foot in Missouri, as was the case at that time. Fremont's body-guard should have been increased to 2,000 or 3,000 men and permitted "to charge with sabres" wherever the Confederates could be found "in line of battle." Instead of this, an ungrateful Republic, while it embalmed these heroes in its history, somewhat contumeliously discharged them from its service. What is the truth of it? W. P. J.