Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 21.djvu/322

 314 Southern Historical Society Papers.

[From The New Orleans Picayune, October 22, 1893.]

GENERAL JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON'S CAMPAIGN IN GEORGIA.

Some Letters Written By Him That Have Never Before Been Published.

Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk at Cassville.

The recent appearance of Hughes' " Life of General Joseph E. Johnston," and the announcement of the placing in the hands of the printers of a " Life of General Leonidas Polk," by his son, Dr. Wil- liam Polk, were the subject of a conversation recently among a few veterans of the Army of the Tennessee, and some facts were men- tioned that are deemed of sufficient interest to be placed on record through the columns of your valued paper.

To those who participated in the memorable campaign from Dalton to Atlanta, under Joe Johnston, and the failure to give battle at Cass- ville, is a most fertile source of discussion and of regret. And this was the point of conversation on which the group of talkers lingered the longest.

The enthusiasm that swept through the army, when the announce- ment was made that it had reached the chosen battle-field, possessed anew the hearts of these old veterans; the cheers that went up from each command as " Old Joe's " ringing battle order was read to the troops reverberated again in their ears ; the embers of their deep emotions of elation and disgust that so rapidly succeeded each other on that eventful day burned afresh within them for a while.

And naturally the oft-debated question of the amount of blame attaching to General Johnston's subordinates for this failure to fight came up as of old, and the measure of it, if any, appertaining to General Polk was stated as follows by one of the group: Major Douglas West, who was adjutant-general, attended General Polk on the night of the conference, where Johnston felt compelled to forego the battle and retreat across the Etowah river.