Lastly. Gen Corse's "famous" dispatch, originally, "I can lick all h—l yet," has not the merit of the excitement or inspiration of the battlefield. It loses its significance entirely for the want of applicability. He had "whipped" no one; his command was now doubled in numbers; no enemy was within twenty miles of him; an entire day (lacking an hour) had passed since the last shot was fired, when he deliberately and thoughtfully prepared that dispatch, perhaps to divert attention from the real, actual occurrences of the battle the day previous and tickle the public ear.
The testimony of hundreds of witnesses now living has been recorded to substantiate what I have written. For the Union soldier in this battle I have tried to
nothing extenuate.
Nor set down aught in malice,
and in after years, I trust, to the noble Confederates who fought this battle the impartial historian will
Give them the honors they won in the strife,
Give them the laurels they lost with their life.
Chickamauga, Ga., April 12, 1897.
Gen. S. G. French, Pensacola, Fla.