[237]4.
5.
6.
7.
No further proof is necessary to show how impossible it is That ‘the van of lee's army’ could have reached Petersburg during the night of the 15th, when, from evidence furnished by General Lee himself, the first division of his forces only came up on the morning of the 18th.
This settles the point as to Mr. Swinton's first error. The second, referring to the ‘mettle’ of the troops defending Petersburg, although of less importance, is still deserving of comment.
The only difference between the ‘crude soldiers’ Mr. Swinton speaks of and those belonging to the army of General Lee was, that some of them, numbering two hundred local militia, were less inured to the hardships of war, and were mostly old men and boys. But the other part consisted of Wise's brigade, which few commands in the service equalled, and of two small regiments of cavalry, under Dearing, who had infused into his men the dash and spirit that so eminently characterized him. The proof, however, that the ‘mettle’ of the forces at and around Petersburg on the 15th was identically the same as that of all the Southern troops is that, although they numbered but 2200 effectives,1 they