Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 13.djvu/236

 From the Rapidan to Spotsyhania Courthouse. 235

relieved me on Sunday, placing General Early in temporary com- mand of my corps. I reported for duty on Tuesday, four days after my attack, and remained over a week with the army, wishing to place the question of health beyond a doubt; but the change of com- manders was made permanent, and on the i4th June I was placed in command of the defences of Richmond. The losses of my corps from the 4th to the 2yth May were, it will be seen, very heavy, and including prisoners, amounted to over one-half. Of the fourteen generals who began the campaign under me, Generals J. M. Jones, L. A. Stafford and Junius Daniel were killed; Generals John Pegram, Harry T. Hays, James A. Walker, and Robert D. Johnston wounded; Generals Ed. Johnson and G. H. Steuart taken prisoners, and Gen- eral Early most of the time detached. General Jones had been twice wounded at Gettysburg and Mine Run. I considered his loss an irreparable one to his brigade. General Ed. Johnson once said of General Stafford that "he was the bravest man he ever saw." Such a compliment from one himself brave almost to a fault and habitually sparing of praise, needs no remark. General Daniel's services at Gettysburg, as well as on the bloody field where he' fell, were of the most distinguished character. General Walker was wounded in the attempt to stem the attack on his division early on the I2th of May. My staff during this campaign consisted ol Lieutenant-Colonel A. S. Pendleton and Major Campbell Brown, Acting Adjutant-Generals; Colonel A. Smead (Colonel of Artillery), Acting Inspector-General; Major B. H. Greene, Engineer; Lieutenant Thomas T. Turner, Aide-de-camp; Lieutenant-Colonel William Allan. Chief of Ordnance; Surgeon Hunter McGuire, Medical Director; Majors John Rogers and A. S. Garber, Quartermasters (Major Harman having been transferred just before the campaign opened); Major W. J. Hawks and Captain J. J. Locke, Commissaries of Subsistence. All except Majors Brown, Greene and Rogers, and Lieutenant T. T. Turner, had been of the staff of Lieutenant-General Jackson. That officer should be held hardly more remarkable -for his brilliant campaigns than for the judgment he almost invariably showed in his selections of men. It would be difficult without personal knowledge to appre- ciate Colonel Pendleton' s great gallantry, his coolness and clearness of judgment under every trial, his soldier-like and cheerful perform- ance of every duty. On one occasion I expressed a wish to recom- mend him to a vacant brigade, but he declined, thinking his services more valuable on the staff. Major Hawks deserves the highest praise I can give him for his ability and zeal in the performance of his