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.
