Headquarters 1st Brigade, 3D Division, 8th
Army
Corps, Camp White, West Virginia,
September 5, 1863.
Editor Catholic
Telegraph: — In the Catholic Telegraph of August 26, I am
mentioned as the commander of the expedition to Wytheville in which Captain
Delany lost his life. This is an error. The expedition was planned by General
Scammon and was under the command of Colonel Toland until he was killed early
in the action at Wytheville, when (Colonel Powell, the next officer in rank,
having been disabled by a severe wound) the command devolved upon
Lieutenant-Colonel Franklin of the Thirty-fourth Regiment, O. V. This daring
enterprise was so ably conducted, not only in the advance and attack, but also
in the retreat, that it is due both to the living and the dead that this
correction should be made. Captain Delany was in the brigade under my command
until temporarily detached for this dangerous service. Upon hearing of his
death I sent the melancholy intelligence of the loss of this most gallant and
meritorious officer to his friends in Cincinnati. It was no doubt in
consequence of this that the mistake of the Telegraph as to the
leadership of the Wytheville expedition occurred.
Respectfully,
R. B. Hayes,
Colonel Commanding.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and
Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 432-3
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