Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 39.djvu/202

 Southern Historical Society Papers.

DIXIE BATTERY AT THE SECOND BATTLE OF MANASSAS.

Letter to General James Longstreet and His Endorsement on the same.

Atlanta, Ga., August 27th, 1887. Gen'l James Longstreet,

Gainesville, Ga. Dear Gen'l.

I have long thought of asking you as a matter of justice to the officers and men of my battery f Dixie Artillery, from Page Co., Va.), as well as to myseli and for the truth of history, to set aright the matter as to whose battery it was that broke up the charge of Fitz John Porter's corps at the second battle of Manassas — just twenty-five years ago.

For some unaccountable reason, history does not give the name of the battle referred to in the official reports of yourself and Gen'l C. M. Wilcox, as the one which first opened fire under your immediate eye, in front of Whiting's brigade of Hood's division, on the left of the Gainesville and Alexandria turnpike, at 3:30 P. ^L, on the 30th August, 1S62.

Gen'l Long, in his "^Memoirs of Robert E. Lee," in writing of this battle says, on page 198, "At the critical moment when the fate of Jackson's corps was trembling in the balance, Col. Lee dashed with his artillery into a position that enfiladed the Federal right wing and hurled upon it a storm of shot and shell. At the same moment Longstreet's infantry rushed like a tempest against Pope's left, driving everything before it. This assault was irresistible and speedily decided the fortune of the day. Pope's left wing gave way before it at every point and his