Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 38.djvu/214

200 of circumstances. It was commenced in the absence of correct intelligence. It was continued in the effort to overcome the difficulties by which we were surrounded, and it would have been gained could one determined and united blow have been delivered by our whole line. As it was, victory trembled in the balance for three days, and the battle resulted in the infliction of as great an amount of injury as was received and in frustrating the Federal campaign for the season."

The evidence already before your readers is probably sufficient to enable them to determine the truth for themselves; but there are several statements in Colonel Mosby's articles of January 30th and February 27th that I cannot allow to pass unnoticed.

Colonel Mosby says:

"Colonel Taylor depends upon his imagination for his facts. I defy him to point out one word in General Lee's letter to Stuart about keeping General Lee 'informed of the movements of the enemy.' "

It seems to me that this is a mere quibble on the part of Colonel Mosby, for the order to keep Ewell informed meant that he was to keep General Lee informed through Ewell, who was in command of the column with which he was ordered to move. He had been reporting through Longstreet south of the Potomac, and received Lee's instructions of June 22d. through Longstreet, and he was to report through Ewell after he crossed the Potomac. The necessity for this was obvious. It kept the commander of the nearest troops informed of the enemy's movements as well as the Commanding General.

Colonel Mosby invites a similar challenge when he says: "On June 22d, General Lee had written Stuart to leave two brigades with him and to cross into Maryland with three brigades." Here Colonel Mosby interpolates into General Lee's instructions to Stuart the words "with him," for they cannot be found in the record. General Lee's instructions required that these two brigades should join him in Pennsylvania as soon as the enemy left Virginia; and it was unfortunate that these instructions were not complied with.