Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to the Editor of the Catholic Telegraph, September 5, 1863

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

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Wednesday July 23, 1862

Marched four companies to Bluestone; bathed. A good evening drill.

Last evening I fell into a train of reflection on the separation of the regiment, so long continued, so unmilitary, and so causeless, with the small prospect of getting relief by promotion or otherwise in the Twenty-third, and as a result pretty much determined to write this morning telling brother William [Platt] that I would like a promotion to a colonelcy in one of the new regiments. Well, this morning, on the arrival of the mail, I get a dispatch from W. H. Clements that I am appointed colonel of the Seventy-ninth, a regiment to be made up in Hamilton, Warren, and Clinton Counties. Now, shall I accept? It is hard to leave the Twenty-third. I shall never like another regiment so well. Another regiment is not likely to think as much of me. I am puzzled. If I knew I could get a chance for promotion in the Twenty-third in any reasonable time, I would decline the Seventy-ninth. But, then, Colonel Scammon is so queer and crotchety that he is always doing something to push aside his chance for a brigadiership. Well, I will postpone the evil day of decision as long as possible.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 307-8