Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 37.djvu/31

Rh he signed it; and Col. Mosby's gratuitous assertion that the report of Gettysburg was signed without being read, and his doubt if General Lee ever read it, or if it was even read to him, is a bald assumption on his part, contrary to the evidence of those who were present and know the manner employed and the care exercised in the preparation of all of his reports."

My own observation, as a member of his staff, of General Lee's preparation of official documents was not as frequent or for so long a period as that of his Adjutant General; but even without this emphatic statement from -Col. Taylor, I cannot for one moment entertain the suggestion made by Col. Mosby that General Lee signed his official reports of the battle of Gettysburg without reading them, or having them read to him.

Col. Mosby says that General Lee's report is unfair to Stuart because it says nothing about Ewell having gone several days in advance into Pennsylvania. It was not that Ewell advanced ahead of time, but that Stuart was two days behind time in crossing the Potomac, which permitted the Federal army to intervene between his command and that of Ewell; so that after crossing the Potomac, instead of going west to Fredericktown, Md., as indicated by General Lee, Stuart was forced to move northward through Westminster to Carlisle, Penn., in order to effect a junction with Ewell at that point.

Col. Mosby is mistaken in saying that General Lee's report made no mention of the fact that Stuart had authority to cross the Potomac in Hooker's rear, as will be seen by reference to the extracts from the reports, hereinafter quoted.

Col. Mosby's statement that General Lee's report is unfair to Stuart, in that it says nothing about Stuart's having "left two brigades with Longstreet and Lee," is in support of his contention, in defense of Stuart, that Lee had sufficient cavalry to keep him informed of the enemy's movements during Stuart's absence. The two brigades referred to were by General Lee's instructions to Stuart, left in Virginia, to watch the flank and rear of the army until the enemy retired from their front, then picket the passes of the Blue Ridge and close upon the rear of the army; but it was not until after the enemy was in Maryland and the order to follow had been repeated, that they crossed the