Page:Confederate Cause and Conduct.djvu/49

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
History Committee, Grand Camp, C. V.
29

in error as to some very important matters, as, for instance, in 550; but it is with respect to and in consequence of the effort to carry out the apparently commendable purpose with which it is written, that we are compelled to say that it presents a picture utterly inconsistent with the truth. Its principal errors thus concern matters of right and principle, as to which it is of the first and last importance that our children should be rightly informed, and so to absolutely forbid its use in our schools. The book is all the more pernicious because its authors pose as Southern men. Such may be the truth, but they certainly do not teach the truth of history. This so-called history does not anywhere mention the names of Generals Ewell, Hill, Cheatham, McLaws, Wheeler, Gordon, and Stephen D. Lee. Nor is there any record of the battles of Ball's Bluff, Gen. Lee's West Virginia campaign, Drewry's Bluff, Chantilly, Shepherdstown, Forrest's battle of Murfreesboro, Salem Church, Ewell's defeat of Milroy at Winchester. The defence of Fort Sumter for three years, the battle of Trevillian's Station, and numerous other heavy engagements are considered unworthy of notice by these Texas authors. The affair of the Merrimac and Monitor is misleading and inaccurate. The story of the campaign of Lee and Grant in 1864 is a model of inaccuracy. In fact, it is difficult to believe that such a compilation could be the work of Southern men.


LEE AND JONES.


Finally, with respect to the Lee and Jones histories. They have been re-examined by members of the committee, and while we still regard them as the best so far published, we are glad to know that new editions of them have been or are to be issued, and we recommend to the authors and publishers such careful improvements in style and arrangement as their great merits deserve. A much improved edition of the first has just come to hand. We regard both of them, however, as insufficient for the higher classes in our schools and for collegiate use.

Accordingly, we offer for your adoption the following resolutions:

Resolved, 1. That this committee, after due examination and