350 Series I Volume XX-II Serial 30 - Murfreesborough Part II
Page 350 | KY.,MID. AND E. TENN.,N. ALA.,AND SW. VA. Chapter XXXII. |
to get out of it, and, therefore, unreasonably magnify their grievances, and seek pretexts for neglecting their duty and disobeying orders. That they have set the authority of the Government at defiance, and have been assured that money and influence will not be spared in their behalf in their course of conduct, and that if they hold out a little longer their discharge will be granted. They say they have the legal opinion of eminent lawyers in Philadelphia that they cannot be held in the service. That the 208 who refused to come out of confinement and go to duty were induced to this course by the action of one or more of a committee who visited them from Philadelphia, and from letters received from friends. That they have allowed their personal feelings and conceived private grievances to outweigh the dictates of patriotism and a just sense of duty to their country in her most trying hour of peril and need. That, in a military sense, all reasonable means have been exhausted to induce them to return to duty, and awaken in them a feeling of pride and a proper sense of their sacred obligations to their Government and country without avail. That after making concessions to them, forgiving their past conduct, and giving them what they have claimed, a large number positively refuse all terms offered by their commanding general, and a large portion of those who did partially accept the terms offered, which were those they had claimed as their rights, did so, apparently, not in the right and proper spirit. That there is no good excuse for their mutinous and disobedient conduct, and that hundreds if not thousands of other troops in the Department of the Cumberland are closely watching the action of Government in this case, upon which their future action will be shaped. That the discipline, interests, and well being of the Army of the Cumberland depend materially upon the result of governmental action with regard to this regiment. It is an important case to the army, as affecting its efficiency and success. That there are leading spirits among the mutinous portion of the Anderson Cavalry, I have no doubt, who influence and control the others to a great extent. That there is a want of harmony of feeling between different portions of the regiment is manifest. There are many of those who have been confined who appear to be well meaning, and whom I believe would never have been guilty of such conduct but for the action of others who have influenced and urged them to it. That the good of the service requires an example to be made of a portion of this regiment, I have no doubt.
Most respectfully submitted.
N. H. DAVIS,
Assistant Inspector-General, U. S. Army.
[Inclosure A.]
HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE OHIO, Huntsville, Ala., July 23, 1862.His Excellency ANDREW G. CURTIN,
Governor of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg:SIR: I am directed by Major-General Buell to address you as follows. On the 18th instant the following dispatch was forwarded, viz:
HUNTSVILLE, ALA., July 18, 1862.
Honorable E. M. STANTON,
Secretary of War, Washington:
I ask authority to arrange with the Governor of Pennsylvania for raising three companies of cavalry, to be united with the independent company raised last fall, and known as the Anderson Troop, Captain Palmer. This company is composed of supe-
Page 350 | KY.,MID. AND E. TENN.,N. ALA.,AND SW. VA. Chapter XXXII. |