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Show I. Saps Corbin S Was a Coward i New York, March 7 T. J. Morgan, latrt colonel of the Fourteenth United , States Colored Infantry and brevet brigadier general United States Vol-j Vol-j untters has written an open letter to the Tribune with reference to Adjutant Adju-tant General Corbin's military record during the civil war. He states that he is prompted to write the letter by the frequent mentioning men-tioning of his name in connection with the senate resolution of inquiry as to the military record of General Corbin. Cor-bin. Colonel Morgan's letter deals principally prin-cipally with the battle at Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 14 and 15, 1S54, during which he was in command of an improvised im-provised division of white and colored troops. The officers commanding regi-j regi-j ments under him included Lieutenant ! Colonel Charles H. Grosvenor, now member of congress; Colonel (now gen-I gen-I eral) YV. R. Shafter and Lieutenant , Colonel (now general) Corbin. Writing ! of this battle. Colonel .Morgan says: j "Colonel Shafter and Colonel Gros- venor acquitted themselves with great i credit. Shafter showing special activity activ-ity and courage and suffering the loss of many of his men. "I was not with Lieutenant Colonel Corbin during the lighting, but officers offi-cers reported to me after the battle was ended that he had betrayed such cowardice as to excite the ridicule of I both officers and men. I spoke to him ;bout it and he at once tendered me i his resignation, subsequently, however, j withdrawing it. j "In my official report of the battle I said that I thought that Lieutenant j Colonel Corbin did not have the courage cour-age requisite to command brave men. I Many years afterward, when the 're-j 're-j hellion records' were about to be published, pub-lished, I was urged to expunge that sentence before the report was published. pub-lished. This I declined to do on two grounds. First, because I did not feel at liberty to alter the records, believing believ-ing that such action on my part and on that of other officers would not only tend to destroy their historical accuracy-and value:- and, second, because subsequent events closely connected with my report and my record would be without proper explanation "I preferred charges against Lieutenant Lieuten-ant Colonel Corbin, based upon the information in-formation I had received and believed to be correct, and on these charges he was brought to trial by a eourtmartial, which, however, acquitted him. "Subsequently he united with others and preferred charge against me, on which I was brought to trial. The findings of the eourtmartial were set aside. I was given the command of a brigade by the personal act' of Governor Gov-ernor Thomas; was subsequent y promoted pro-moted by the president as brevet brigadier brig-adier general, and was confirmed by the senate. In August. 1S65, the war being over, I left the service. Lieutenant Corbin became colonel of the regiment, and if I mistake not he has remained continuously in the army from that time to the present, a period of nearly thirty-five years. "I regret that any one has seen fit to bring up this matter, for I am of the opinion that the Nashville incident ought not at this time to have weight in determining the question as to whether the adjutant general of the army should be made major general. Corbin and I were at that time both very young volunteer officers, with but little experience in either life or service, ser-vice, and it seems to me that neither his act as a soldier or mine as a com- j manding o'Ticer ought to be judged by the severe military standard of the regular reg-ular armv. "I believe at that time that Colonel Corbin had betrayed cowardice, scfe-ported. scfe-ported. and I felt it my duty to court-martial court-martial him. But the judgment of the court did not sustain me, and the incident inci-dent should be regarded as closed. "The question whether the adjutant general of the army should be a major general is one to be determined by experts, ex-perts, and 1 do not feel called upon at the present time to pass any opinion upon it. My object in writing this communication com-munication is to state facts as they occurred, oc-curred, so as to remove from the public pub-lic mind many misapprehensions and misunderstandings." |