Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 38.djvu/216

202 that Stuart should cross the Potomac, east of the Blue Ridge, no longer existed. In his letter to The Richmond Dispatch of January 28. 1896, Colonel Mosby based his defense of General Stuart on the instructions of General Lee of June 23d, and no reference was then made by him to any previous instructions. Now again he quotes General Lee's letter of the 23d, to the omission of which from his book his attention was called by me, and as to General Lee's final instructions to Stuart, he says:

"They gave Stuart the alternative of coming over the ridge the next day. crossing the Potomac at Shepherdstown and then moving on over the South Mountain to Fredericktown; or he could pass around Hooker's rear.

"No discretion was given to Stuart to remain with the army in Virginia or join Ewell in Pennsylvania, but discretion was given him to go by Shepherdstown, or cross in Hooker's rear at Seneca. No matter which route he went he would be equally out of sight of the enemy and out of communication with General Lee."

This statement is incomprehensible in view of the fact that had Stuart crossed at Shepherdstown on the 25th of June, as indicated by General Lee, he would have been with Ewell, who was never out of communication with General Lee; and if he had turned back when he encountered the enemy at Haymarket, he would, as Colonel Mosby says, have been at Shepherdstown on the evening of June 27th, within twenty-two miles of General Lee, who was at Chambersburg, and within fifty-five miles of Ewell, who was at Carlisle, and the way open to both places.

I have scrutinized very carefully General Lee's letters to General Stuart of the 22d and 23d of June, with a view to see how they should have been construed by General Stuart.

On June 22d General Lee wrote: "If you find that he (General Hooker) is moving northward, and that two brigades can guard the Blue Ridge and take care of your rear, you can move with the other three into Maryland and take position on General Ewell's right." In this letter it is clearly stated that Stuart's crossing into Maryland was required only in case the enemy was moving northward.