420 Southern Historical Society Papers.
power to have rendered that report. But before entering upon that story it is a melancholy pleasure to be able to say that one of the truest soldiers and most distinguished fighters developed by the war felt the same obligation, and only a short time before his death ex- pressed unqualified admiration for your fighting on this field, which he was pleased to term "unsurpassed," and his intention, even at that late date, to put on record as an act of justice what he knew of it. He, too, failed to make any official report of this battle. It is need- less to say that I allude to our Brigadier- General, under whose im- mediate direction we fought that day. If anything could add to our regret for the loss of our brave old commander, this loss of his direct testimony would. He had seen and done so much hard and effective fighting that there was no higher authority on that subject than the modest, genial gentleman, but bold and intrepid soldier, who, in an army unsurpassed in chivalric courage, and in the dash and skill of its officers, won for himself the soubriquet of " Fighting Dick Ander- son."
The Lost Dispatch Letter from General D. H. Hill.
MACON, GEORGIA, January 22d, 1885. Rev. J. WILLIAM JONES,
Secretary Southern Historical Society :
DEAR SIR, Permit me a brief reply to a portion of the able and eloquent address of General Bradley T. Johnson, which appears in the last number of the HISTORICAL SOCIETY PAPERS. In reference to a dispatch from General Lee to myself, which fell into General McClellan's hands, General Johnson says: "The Count of Paris states that it was picked up from the corner of a table in the house, which had served as the headquarters of the Confederate General D. H. Hill. A story current in Frederick is that General Hill sat for some time at the corner of Market and Patrick streets, inspecting the march of his column as it moved by, and was observed to drop a paper from his pocket, which was picked up as soon as he left, and delivered to McClellan on his arrival on the I3th."
The two stories do not harmonize very well, and to them might be added that of E. A. Pollard, who stated that I threw down the order petulantly, because I was not pleased with its contents ! In my reply to Pollard, seventeen years ago, in my magazine, The Land We Love, I exposed the unfairness of attributing to me the
