Today in History:

301 Series I Volume XLIII-I Serial 90 - Shenandoah Valley Campaign Part I

Page 301 Chapter LV. THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY CAMPAIGN.

report made upon the part taken by said First Division, Nineteenth Army Corps, in the battles of the 19th and 22nd of September, 1864, near Winchester and Fisther's Hill, Va., state in words as follows:

The line of the First Brigade, thus indicated and immediately formed in compliance with these orders, maintained its line during the battle. If once or twice some part of it, under the severe fire of the enemy, dropped back from the fence, it immediately resumed its position there under the direction of its officers.

Which statement is false and incorrect. This at or near the headquarters First Division, Nineteenth Corps, in the latter part of September, 1864.

Specification 2nd.-In this: That Brigadier General William Dwight, commanding First Division, Nineteenth Army Corps, did, in an official report made upon the part taken by said First Division, Nineteenth Corps, in the battles of the 19th and 22nd of September, near Winchester and Fisher's Hill, Va., in referring to the Second Division, Nineteenth Corps, use the following language, viz: "That portion in front of my flying in panic." Which statement was face, slanderous, and injurious to the troops referred to. This at or near the headquarters First Division, Nineteenth Corps, in the latter part of September, 1864.

Specification 3rd.-In this: That Brigadier General William Dwight, commanding the First Division, Nineteenth Army Corps, did, in an official report made upon the part taken by said First Division, Nineteenth Corps, in the battles of the 19th and 22nd of September, 1864, near Winchester and Fisher's Hill, Va., state in words as follows, viz:

Although I had about me at one time as many as three stand of colors belonging to regiments of the Second Division, and though there were near me many officers of high rank (two or three of them colonels), they could not be brought to rally their men, and soon went to the rear with them.

Which statement is substantially and willfully false and slanderous and incorrect. This at or near the headquarters First Division, Nineteenth Corps, in the letter part of September, 1864.

Specification 4th.-In this: The Brigadier General William Dwight, commanding the First Division, Nineteenth Corps, did, in an official report made upon the part taken by said First Division, Nineteenth Army Corps, in the battles of the 19th and 22nd of September, 1864, near Winchester and Fisher's Hill, Va., state in words as follows, viz:

And though there were near me many officers of high rank (two or three of them colonels), they could not be brought to rally their men, and soon went to the rear with them.

Which statement is willfully false and slanderous, and made without any accurate knowledge of the rank, names, or identity of the officers referred to, or of their organizations to which they belonged, thus catting a slanderous and injurious imputation in general terms upon the division. This at or near the headquarters First Division, Nineteenth Corps, in the latter part of September, 1864.

Specification 5th.-In this: That Brigadier General William Dwight, commanding First Division, Nineteenth Corps, did, in an official report made upon the part taken by said First Division, Nineteenth Corps, in the battles of the 19th and 22nd of September, 1864, near Winchester and Fisther's Hill, Va., state in words as follows, viz:

For the single line of the First Brigade was the only infantry force now on the right of the whole to resist the advance of that force of the enemy that had just driven from the field the two lines of the Second Division.


Page 301 Chapter LV. THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY CAMPAIGN.