Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 8.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

Colonel D. G. White, who from an early period in the war was a member of General Hardee's staff, and who during all that time was well acquainted with Cleburne, writes as follows:

Davidsonville, Anne Arundel county, Maryland, April 6th, 1880.
Colonel T. B. Roy, Selma, Alabama:

My Dear Sir — Yours of the 21st ultimo received. On the 20th July, 1864, I was ordnance officer on General Hardee's staff. I had been to the office of Colonel Olasowski, Chief of Ordnance, and rejoined General Hardee at or near the time when Cleburne's division got into position to renew the assault. My recollection is that General Hardee and staff were in a small scattered grove near and on the right of the Atlanta road, and a short distance in rear of Cleburne's division, the troops lying down, the skirmishers hotly engaged. After making my report to General Hardee, I was inquiring of another member of the staff (Colonel Samuel Black) about Walker's division, when Cleburne rode up and reported his division formed. General Hardee's reply was an order to Cleburne to make the attack at once. The interview was brief. I was but a few paces distant, and the above is what occurred. Before Cleburne could communicate with his brigade commanders, a staff officer of General Hood's rode up and said the enemy had turned the right of the army and a division must be sent there. Cleburne's assault was therefore stopped, and his division was sent to the point referred to.

The night parting at Palmetto, when the troops, hearing of General Hardee's transfer, poured into his camp, is very vivid in my mind. The effect was only second to that in front of Atlanta when it was announced that General Johnston was to leave the army. No one who was present can ever forget how eloquently the actions of officers and men bespoke their attachment to General Hardee and their grief at his departure. This was notably the case with Cleburne, who, among other things, said in substance that nothing but the duty which he owed to his troops, some of whom had come from Arkansas with him, prevented him from asking to be relieved and seeking service in Hardee's new command.

The confidence and mutual regard existing between Generals Hardee and Cleburne was well known in the army. It dated from an early period in the war, when the State troops were being transferred to the Confederate service, and was strengthened by their