"General Hooker says that as he came up to the front, Cox's corps
was retiring from the contest. This is untrue. General Cox did not
command a corps, but a division; and that division was in action,
fighting most gallantly, long before General Hooker came up, and
remained in the action all day, never leaving the field for one
moment. He also says that he discovered that the attack by General
Reno's corps was without sequence. This is also untrue, and when
said of an officer who so nobly fought and died on that same field,
it partakes of something worse than untruthfulness. Every officer
present who knew anything of the battle knows that Reno performed a
most important part in the battle, his corps driving the enemy from
the heights on one side of the main pike, whilst that of General
Hooker drove them from the heights on the other side.
"General Hooker should remember that I had to order him four
separate times to move his command into action, and that I had to
myself order his leading division (Meade's) to start before he would
go." Official Records, vol. xix. pt. i. p. 422.]
The men of the First Corps and its officers did their duty nobly on
that as on many another field, and the only spot on the honor of the
day is made by the personal unscrupulousness and vainglory of its
commander.
Pages:
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476