,.5 pH8J Copy J ^ 468 .5 U58 ^^^ ^REPORT OF THE United Confederate Veterans' Historical Committee WHICH WAS UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED AT THE Twenty -first Annual Reunion HELD AT LITTLE ROCK, ARK., ON Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, May 16th, 17th and 18th, 1911. GEO. W. GORDON, General Commanding. WM. E. MICKLE, Adjutant General and Chief of Staff. NEW ORLEANS: A. W Hyatt Stat'y Mfg. Co. Ltd., 407 Camp St.— 116149 1911 BylnMtM OCT 30 ?9I2 REPORT OF THE United Confederate Veterans' Historical Committee. Major General Wm. E. fickle,' Adjutant General ancl» Chi&f of Staff. Sir : — A series of misfortunes have attended the meetings of the Historical Committee. Its chairman was compelled to submit to a surgical operation, and was in the hospital for some weeks. Judge George L. Christian, another mem- ber, whose contributions to Confederate history have won him not only the admiration, but gratitude, of all who love the Con- federate cause and its precious memory, has been cjuite ill and could render no assistance. Judge John H. Rogers, whose splendid personality, whose superb mind and whose magnifi- cent achievements made him a great power in the prepara- tion of all papers which aft'ected the South, whose paper read at the New Orleans Reunion was one of the masterful pro- ductions of Confederate literature, has answered the final sum- mons, and crossed over the river to be with the immortals. The chairman communicated with various members of the Committee asking contributions and suggestions for the report of this year, and authorized by the Committee to make such report as possible, decided it would be interesting, as well as effective, to use these communications from the vari- ous members of the committee as the ]:)ody of the report. Col. W. II. Scanland. Benton, La., has prepared the first chapter, as follows : 4 2ist Annual Reimion, Little Rock, Ark., May 16-18, ipii. "The history of the world records no braver fight than that which was made by the Southern armies during the war between the States. AVhile they knew full well that they were fighting against great odds, yet, moved by a conscious- ness of right, they marched with unfaltering tread to battle and to victory. "The cause for which they stood went down in defeat, but the glory of their heroism will illuminate the pages of history as long as time shall last. "The dauntless courage of the men of Yorktown and Val- ley Forge and of Buena Vista and Chapultepec have been cele- brated in song and story, but the endurance and daring of Southern soldiers equalled the one and surpassed the other. If the barefoot ragamuffins under Washington could be tracked by the blood upon the snow, so could the Southern soldiers during the war. "If the men under Scott and Taylor could win victories with an abundance of equipment and supplies, so could our men with empty stomachs and poorly-clad bodies. Indeed, it may well be asked if the victories in Mexico would have been so signal and so glorious but for the troops from the Southern States. It has been said that on one occasion, just after the opening of hostilities, that Lincoln and Scott were riding along the lines in front of Richmond, and Lincoln said to Scott: 'General, you took the City of ^Mexico with fewer men than you have here.' *Yes,' said Scott, 'but the men I took Mexico with, I have to take now.' "All honor to the memory of the brave warriors of the sixties. But could they have been otherwise than brave? "They were no mongrel crew gathered from the ends of the earth. They were the sturdy yeomanry of our Southland — descended from a brave and worthy ancestry. They were commanded by men who were at least the equals of any mili- tary chieftains the world ever saw. What line of history points to grander men than R. E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Albert Sidney Johnston? "There men were backed by the encouragement, sympathy and prayers of the most heroic women that God ever gave Report of the Historical Committee. 5 to the world. If the Spartan woman could give to her de- parting son the battle-spear and say, 'Bring this back, or be brought back upon it,' so could the woman of the South, as she yielded her husband or her son to the service of her coun- try. The men were heroes very largely because the w^omen were heroines. The picture of the war will never be cor- rectly drawni until we can see clearly the men in the army, the women superintending plantations, spinning, weaving and making clothes for the soldiers and scouring the country for supplies to be sent to the front. And as a rule they managed successfully ; albeit, some men tell us that 'women have no head for lousiness.' "We are reminded here of a story told by Bishop Marvin, who was a refugee from his Missouri home during a part of the war. He was stopping for a time in a country home, where the wife, as was usual in those days, had everything to manage. She was often perplexed, and would say, 'Oh, if I only knew how John would manage it.' After a while John, the husband, came home on furlough. As soon as the greet- ing and the kisses were over, she seated John on the sofa, drew out her memorandum book, and went over all the details of the business. When she had finished he drew her to his bosom and said : 'Mary, you are the grandest woman in the world ; you have done so much better than I could have done myself.' "This case was typical of thousands of Southern homes. Ofttimes when the soldier in the field received the box from home, his cheeks were w^et with tears, because those articles reminded him of the loving hearts and deft fingers that were far away in 'Dixie.' They could work and pray while the men could fight, and they did it. "Another party in the background must not be forgotten, and that was 'the old-time darkey.' The ante-bellum slave was, as a rule, faithful to his master and his master's interests. The master's family was the object of special care to him in the time of stress and danger. No matter how much the negro has degenerated under later conditions, his forbears were not so. 6 2ist Annual Reunion^ Little Rock, Ark., May 16-18, igii . "Very often during the stormy days of the war, women and children, with all their valuables, would have been at the mercy of a vandal horde, but for the faithful care and well- directed energy of the slaves." Col. Joseph T. Derry has prepared the second chapter, which is as follows : "It is amazing- to see with what readiness our people, including public speakers of every class, accept the incorrect statements of writers, who are either profoundly ignorant of the subjects which they discuss, or wilfully misrepresent facts. "It has not been more than a year since a distinguished speaker in the city of Atlanta exhibited a woeful ignorance of the motives which lead the Southern people to withdraw from a Union, to the formation and growth of which they had contributed the greatest part. "On another occasion that same speaker said, that the South learned at Gettysburg that she could not divide the American Union. He ought to have known that the war last- ed twenty-one months, or only three months less than two years, after Gettysburg, and that a little more than a year after that battle the North was in greater doubt as to the final success of the Union cause than at any other period of the four years' conflict. Gold went higher then than at any previous or subsequent time. "Many of our people also read the historical romance of General Miles, and accept them as the truth. "Among famous incidents in the world's history, written by one whose name does not appear with his stories, in an article on the charge up Missionary Ridge in which this state- ment is made : 'This famous charge was the concluding scene of the conflict in and about Chattanooga, which waged for several days from September 19th to the 24th. Beginning with the battle of Chickamauga, on the 19th, in which Thomas stood like a wall against the onslaughts of the Confederates, and had bestow^ed upon him the title of "The Rock of Chicka- mauga," and "Fighting Joe" Hooker had accomplished his famous "Battle Above the Clouds," and the 24th came the fa- mous and decisive battle of Missionary Ridge.' Report of the Historical Committee. 7 "Any one reading that paragraph, who did not know better, would suppose that only five days intervened be- tween the battles of Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge. He would never know that Chickamauga was one of the most decisive Confederate victories of the war; that, although Thomas held on firmly for several hours after the rout of the Union right wing, on September 20th, he, too, had to take refuge at nightfall with the rest of the defeated army in Chat- tanooga, which had been in possession of the Federals since September 9th. Nothing is said about how the Confederates besieged the enemy in Chattanooga and brought them to the verge of ruin, and of the alarm of the Federal government, which was so great that Hooker was hastily sent with the nth and 1 2th corps from the Army of the Potomac, and Sherman, in camp east of Vicksburg, was ordered to hurry with his four divisions to the relief of the besieged; that Grant arrived on October 23rd, and by the reinforcements north of the Tennes- see, opened communication by the river (October 27th and 28th) ; that after Bragg had sent Longstreet with 15,000 men to attack Burnside at Knoxville, Grant concentrated an over- whelming force against the Confederates, and on November 25th, or sixty-six days after the battle of Chickamauga, fought and won the battle of Missionary Ridge. "In Hooker's so-called 'Battle above the Clouds' (Novem- ber 24th), he, with more than 9,000 men, finally forced back Walthall's little force of 1,700 men, less than one-fourth of Hooker's strength. "Inasmuch as the above-mentioned gross perversions of the truth of history are among the most recent, I suggest some reference to them in our forthcoming historical report. "JOSEPH T. DERRY." And General William T. Shaw has prepared the third chapter, as follows : "We are to-day the guests of a city and State in the heart of the Trans-Mississippi Department. The military achievements of this department, especially that of Texas, Western Louisiana and Arkansas, have received hut meaner 8 2isi Annual Rennioji, Little Rock, Ark., May 16-18, igii. consideration by historic writers and i)latform speakers. In fact, a history of the hardships endured, dangers dared and deeds of heroic valor performed by this army in keeping watch and ward over the Gulf coast of Texas, stretching from the Rio Grande to Sabine Pass, and in guarding that vast scope of exposed ^Mississippi front in Louisiana and Arkan- sas, remains -to be written. "One of the most interesting historic incidents of the war was enacted in this department, on the Texas coast, in the Battle of Sabine Pass, September 8, 1863, by Lieutenant R. ^^^ Dowllng in command, with forty-seven men, in defense of Fort Grifhn. The following extracts from his official re- port of this battle is both interesting and instructive : " 'A fleet of twenty-two vessels were present. The Cliff o'l anchored opposite the lighthouse, and fired twenty-six shots at the Fort, only two of which took effect, neither of them doing any serious damage to the Fort. This firing lasted from 6:30 to 7:30, one hour. No more firing was indulged in until 1 1 o'clock, when the gunboat Uncle Ben steamed down near the Fort, and the United States gunboat Sachem opened on her with a thirty-pound Parrott gun, firing three sho'ts without eft"ect, all missing the Ben, and passing over the Fort. The whole fleet then drew off, and remained out of range until 3 :40 P. ]\L, when the Sachem and Arizona steamed into line up the Louisiana channel. The Clifton and one boat, name not known, remaining at the junction of the two channels. I allowed the two former boats to approach within 1,200 yards, when I opened fire with the whole of my battery on the fore- most boat, the Sachem, which after the third or fourth round hoisted the white flag, one of the shots passing through her steam drum. The Clifton in the meantime had attempted to pass up through Texas Channel, but receiving a shot which carried away her tiller rope, she became unmanageable, and grounded about 500 3^ards below the fort, which enabled me to concentrate all my guns on her, which were six in number, two 32-pounder smooth bores, two 22-pounder smooth bores, and two 32-pounder howitzers. She withstood our fire some twenty-five or thirty-five minutes, when she also hoisted a Report of the Historical Committee. 9 white flag. During the time she was aground she used grape, and her sharpshooters poured an incessant shower of minnie balls into the works. The fight lasted from the time I fired the first gun until the boats surrendered, that Avas about three- quarters of an hour. * * * Thus, it will be seen, we cap- tured with forty-seven men, two gunboats, mounting thirteen guns of the heaviest caliber, and about 350 prisoners. All my men behaved like heroes ; not a man flinched from his post. Our motto was 'Victory or Death !' "General Halleck, Secretary of AA'ar. September 30, 1863, after this battle, writes : " 'The failure of the attempt to land at Sabine is only an- other of numerous examples of the uncertainty and unrelia- ble character of maritime expeditions.' "This is a circumstance unparalleled in the annals of his- tory, where forty-seven men; occupying a little mud fort, poorly equipped with smooth-bore guns, by dint of their re- markable courage and heroic valor, successfully resisted the serious effort of a powerful fleet of tAventy-two vessels to land, disabling two of them, and capturing 350 men, more than they could guard, being forced to resort to strategy to cover up their deficiency until reinforcements arrived. "We have quoted this report at length, believing it de- deserves a more general recognition in history than has been accorded it. Texas was the only Confederate State not over- run by the enemy, and this is a striking illustration of the kind of courage that prevented its invasion against repeated efforts by overwhelming numbers. The most formidable of these attempts was the Red River campaign by General Banks tnrough Louisiana, in conjunction with General Steel from Little Rock, Arkansas, in the spring of 1864. "This campaign, when viewed in the light of the corres- pondence now compiled by the war records, showing a deep- laid plan and careful preparation extending over a period of ten months, assumes the most intense historic interest. It was undertaken for both military and strategic reasons. The troops selected for this important undertaking were picked veteran troops from Grant and Sherman's armies, the 13th, 10 2 1st Ajinual Reunion, Little Rock, Ark., Mar 16-18, igii. i6th and 19th army corps. The men who had captured Vicks- burg and Port Hudson, and later saved Washington from Early's raid. It is with gratification that we give in this re- port the long-delayed historic recognition of the valor of the troops who so signally discomfited this powerfully equipped army, composed of such material. "General Banks reported entering this campaign in Lou- isiana with 42,000 men. General Taylor attacked the front of this powerful army at Mansfield, with Walker's Division of Texas Infantry, Mouton's Division, made up of Louisiana and Texas troops and Texas cavalry, a total of 6,100 men. In the language of General Taylor, in command of the Confed- erates : 'The great event then transpired at 4 P. M., April 8th. The enemy failing to advance, our line advanced in force and swept everything before it, as was also the Second Division of the 13th corps, brought up to sustain the first line, pursuing the routed foe four miles below our first position. Eight thousand of the enemy, his horse and two divisions of Infan- try and 5,000 of the 19th corps were driven back by sunset. Xhe fruits of the victory at Mansfield were 250 wagons, sev- eral stands of colors, many thousand small arms, twenty pieces of artillery and 2,500 prisoners.' 'Tn the second day's battle at Pleasant Hill. Taylor was reinforced by Parson's Missouri Division and Churchill's Ar- kansas Division, with an increase of Texas Cavalry, making a force of 12,500 men, while the enemy had in position 18,000 men. This was- a hotly contested battle, being ended by nightfall with both sides occupying substantially their original positions. The enemy retreated during the night, leaving their wounded, with many supplies on the field, and their dead unburied. General Taylor reported: Tn the two ac- tions of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill my loss in killed and wounded was 2,200; at Pleasant Hill we lost three guns and 425 prisoners.' General Banks reported his loss in the two battles at 'nearly 4,000 men, besides artillery, mules and 250 wagons.' 'Tt is generally known that after these two battles General Smith, against the serious opposition of General Taylor, per- Report of the Historical Committee. 11 sisted in transferring" to Arkansas to meet General Steel all the infantry except Polignac's Division, now reduced to less than 1,200 men, and Texas Cavalry, amounting to less than 4,500 men all told, to cope with Banks' army and Porter's fleet of nineteen gunboats on Red River from Blair's Landing, where Parson's Texas Cavalry Brigade fought the gunboat fight, and General Tom Green was killed, to Yellow Bayou, the closing battle of the campaign. The following extraci; from a General Order issued by General John A. Wharton, who commanded the Texas Cavalry, will illustrate how well they did their duty to the close of the expedition: " 'General Order No. 7, Army of Western Louisiana. May 24, 1864. Soldiers : For forty-six days you have daily engaged the enemy, al- ways superior to you in numbers. When the beaten foe, four army corps of Infantry and 5,000 Cavalry, began his retreat, you were formed in battle array in his front and hung upon his flank and rear only to destroy. In his retreat from Grand Ecore to Atchafalaya, you killed, wounded and captured 4,000 men, destroyed five transports and three gunboats. All this was accomplished with a loss to you of 400 men, two-thirds of Avhich will report for duty again in forty days. The history of no other campaign will present the spectacle of a cavalry force capturing and killing more of the enemy than their own numbers. This you have done, and in so doing have im- mortalized yourselves and added new luster to Texas, the gal- lantry of whose sons have been illustrated on many battlefields from Gettysburg to Glorietta.' "The loss of one cavalry regiment, 12th Texas, Parson's Brigade, in a single charge at Yellow Bayou, was eighty-three officers and men out of 258 who participated, or about one- third killed and wounded." One of the most extraordinary hapnenings in regard to the history of the South occurred in Virginia in the past few weeks : Elson's History of the United States had been sel- ected as a textbook by Roanoke College. Miss Sarah Mof- 12 2Tst Ainmal Reunion, Little Rock, Ark , May 1618, ipii. fett, one of the students of the college, refused to attend the history class or use this history where it referred to the South and its people. For this she suffered reprimand. The South- ern Cross Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy has issued a circular which has been widely distributed, which is incorporated in this record : "To the Daughters of the Confederacy, the Camps of Confed- erate Veterans, the Sons of Veterans, and to All Who Are Loyal to the Southland, and Love Her Traditions and De- sire a Truthful History of Her Social and Political Life : The Southern Cross Chapter, U. D. C, of Virginia, takes this method of calling 5'our attention to the untruthful and biased book known as Elson's History of the United States, which has found its way into the South, and is being taught in some of our schools and colleges. 'Tt was selected as a textbook by Roanoke College, and our attention was first called to the matter when Miss Sarah MofYett, a student of this college, refused to attend the history class on account of the vile slander which this book contains upon the purity and virtue of the men and women of the South. ''And, upon examination of the history, we were not sur- prised at ]\Iiss Moffett's refusal to attend the class, as the his- torian says he 'blushes to record the revolting features of slavery in the South.' And yet this book that brings a blush of shame to the author's cheek is being taught in schools — and co-educational schools — in the South. "The following extracts from the history will show the partisan spirit that prompted the writer to slander a people who had reached the pinnacle of high ideals, refinement and culture, and to which it has never been the fortune of many to attain. "We hesitate, and blush to send forth to the public such objectionable and obnoxious matter, but the full realization of our imperative duty demands that we give the quotations in Mr. Elson's own language. Report of the Historical Committee. 13 ■'On page 558, last edition, 1910, Mr. Elson says : 'Often the attractive slave woman was a prostitute to her mas- ter; that this evil was widespread at the South.' He also says, 'A sister of President Madison declared that though the South- ern ladies were complimented with the name of wife, they were only the mistresses of Seraglios ;' that 'a leading Southern lady declared to Harriet Martineau that the wife of many a planter was but the chief slave of his harem.' He quotes Emerson as saying that 'John Brown made the gallows glo- rious like the cross,' and says himself that 'John Brown was a man of intense religious conviction; that we must pity rather than blame him ;' 'by the technical letter of the law he was a criminal, by the motives and intents of his heart he was not.' He says the cause of the war was slavery, and slavery alone; that States' rights in the abstract had nothing to do with bringing on the war, and styles the war 'a slaveholders" re- bellion.' "These few quotations are sufficient to show the utter un- truthfulness of the book, and the desire of Mr. Elson to villify our glorious Southland. "We will cite one instance, just to show the pernicious in- fluence this book is having on the young people of the South. A young man who had studied this so-called history, re- marked that he knew it was tough, but believed every word of it. And he was a Southern boy; the son of a Confederate veteran. "Shall we sit idly by and see the fair name and honor of our fathers and grandfathers impugned in this shameful way? Too many have given their lives for a cause so dear, and whose memories we tenderly revere, to permit this slander to go un- rebuked. "Our Confederate soldiers are peerless, and shall we al- low these unequivocal misrepresentations and falsehoods to be taught to the present and future generations? No! A thousand times, No ! "We beg of you to join us in this crusade against histories of this character. We only want the truth — nothing more. 14 2ist Annual Reunion^ Little Rock, Ark., May 16-18, igii. "Will you not investigate and ascertain what histories are being taught in the colleges and schools of your cities and towns? This is urgent. Do not delay. The present gen- eration will not be called upon to defend their principles with their lives, as their fathers did, yet we have before us a great and noble work, the recording of a story of tha't civilization whose true history has never been written. A glorious task to preserve from oblivion, or worse, from misrepresentation, a civilization which produced such men as our immortal Davis, Lee and Jackson. "The heart cannot but feel that the true story must be told ; the song must be sung through the ages that teaches the South the sublime beauty of devotion to duty. "And we know the time will come when the North, as well as the South, shall acknowledge that this glorious Union is more secure because of the heritage left us by the Confeder- soldiers, the heritage of an untarnished sword. "SOUTHERN CROSS CHAPTER, U. D. C. Salem. Va., April 20, 191 1." It is surprising that any college controlled by Southern sympathizers should permit the use of a book so unjust in its entire conceptions as this history of Elson's. AA'hatever may be its merits as to the other parts of the history of our coun- try, when it deals with the war between the States, its tone, its manner and its spirit are so filled with bias and malignity that no self-respecting man or woman should stand for its use in any of the schools. It almost passes comprehension that such a l:)Ook, with such matter, should have been used bv a large number of Southern colleges and schools. This instance at Salem, Va.. Roanoke College, shows the necessit}^ for constant watchfulness and vigilant action, even in this age when peace has been restored, and when there is throughout all parts of the country respect for the motives of both sides who entered into the gigantic conflict from '61 to '65. There are many histories respectful and fair and just to the South, which could be used with safety, and when any college or school in the South adopts Elson's History, it is certainly unfortunate as well as thoughtless. /"^ Report of the Historical Committee. IS It is gratifying- to state that there has been recently issued two historic volumes prepared by Prof. Lawton B. Evans, published by Messrs. Benjamin Sanborn & Company, of Chi- cago. We heartily commend these two volumes for use in all Southern schools and colleges. ^^>itten by a brilliant and accomplished son of General Clement A. Evans, who has held so many places of honor in the South, and whose devotion to the United Confederate Veteran Association haA'C endeared him to the hearts of all the Southern people. AVe, therefore, recommend that a circular be issued in the name of the Association, calling attention to the Elson History, as well as the two volumes above named, such circular to be printed in the name of the Association, and be transmitted by the Adjutant General in so far as possible to the faculties of every school in the South. The Committee has also examined a work printed by McMillan & Co., entitled "A Short History of the American People," by Miss Edna Henry Lee Turpin of Virginia, and commended by Prof. S. C. Mitchell of the University of South Carolina. This book is in the main a fair representation of the real facts concerning the war, and while it possibly lays too great stress on slavery as the cause of the war, it can be safely commended for use in the colleges and schools of the South. All of which is respectfully submitted, BENNETT H. YOUNG, Chairman. W. P. MANNING, WILLIAM T. SHAW. W. C. SCANLAND, WM. M. PEGRAM, GEO. L. CHRISTIAN. JOSEPH T. DERRY. Committee. 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