No doubt there were other general
officers who would have been. But it is no exaggeration to insist that
his dispositions were fully as speedy as those of any other portion of
the army in this campaign.
Hooker not only alleges that "in his judgment, Gen. Sedgwick did not
obey the spirit of his order, and made no sufficient effort to obey it,"
but quotes Warren as saying that Sedgwick "would not have moved at all
if he [Warren] had not been there; and that, when he did move, it was
not with sufficient confidence or ability on his part to manoeuvre his
troops." It is very doubtful whether Warren ever put his opinion in so
strong a way as thus quoted by Hooker from memory. His report does
speak of Gibbon's slowness in coming up, and of his thus losing the
chance of crossing the canals and taking the breastworks before the
Confederates filed into them. But beyond a word to the effect that
giving the advance to Brooks's division, after the capture of the
heights, "necessarily consumed a considerable time," Warren does not in
his report particularly criticise Sedgwick's movements. And in another
place he does speak of the order of ten P.
Pages:
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267