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and ought to have retired, and gone back to ("ashtmvn. Tin- trouble \\.is. Hill had found out too much. It is plain that this expedition \\a> i)..t .t >, ,onnoisiince, but a raid. A hitfh military authority says: " When once the object of a reconnoisancf has been gained, a retreat must bo sounded even in the middle of a combat." General Lee \\.is in a state of duress when he arrived on the field at the close of the fight. He was compelled to order up the remainder of the army and deliver battle on ground he had not chosen, or fall back to Cashtown, leaving his dead and wounded on the field, and giving the enemy the prestige of victory. It is clear that the want of cav- alry had nothing to do either with precipitating the battle or losing it. Stuart was absent on the day it began for the same reason that General Lee was.
This has been written more in sorrow than in anger. It is no pleasure to me to expose the mistakes of others; my motive is to de- fend the dead, and that arm of the service to which I belonged. It is a sacred duty I owe to the memory of a friend,
" To whom the shadows of far years extend."
JNO. S. MOSBY. San Francisco, Cal., January 23, 1896.
GENERAL MEADE'S TEMPER.
ITS PECULIARITIES MADE HIM AN EMGMA.
What Dana Wrote About It A Note from Mr. Lincoln General Halleck and the Testy Commander Took His Own Course.
The late Federal General Meade's peculiarities of temper, to draw it mildly, were such as to make him something of an enigma, even to his closest associates in the Army of the Potomac, which he com- manded from Gettysburg to the close of the war. He was a singu- larly fretful man a most trying characteristic always and especially in one occuping a high command and often indulged on the slightest provocation in very unpalatable language toward those with whom he came in .contact. This irascibility of temper made him many enemies in the army. It is generally understood that at one period personal dislike of General Meade was almost universal
