The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1861-10-05
lProrl The Cincinnati Enquirer.
Immense Armies.

There is little doubt that the armies uoyy
in Washington and its vicinity amount TO
the immense aggregate Of near 10000
mon on each side, or 100000 comIatants
Whenever general battle shall occur i;
will not only have no parallel on the
Western Continent IN the forces engaged
but hardly one i'll the history even of
modern Europe Will vie with it The
great battles of Napoleon were generally
fought With numbers far inferior 10 those
new under the walls of Washington. For
instance, at Austerlitz, where Napoleon
defeated the combined armies Of Russia
and Austria, he had but 10000 troops the
allies had 100000 At Jena and Auer-
stadt where he broke the power Of pruS
/ s:a, his forces were not over 10000 strong.
/ At the great battle of Wagram, fought
1 with the .tuStrians OF the banks of the
/ Danube, in 1909, he bad bat l5J.o00 men.
! At Borodiuo, under the walls of Moscow,
! he had but 10000 10 oppose the Russians.
At Waterloo he did not have to exceed
/ 10000 troops. Not one Of the battles in
/ Italy or Spain even equalled this last num-
I ber The only battle field we now recol-
/ lect of where the combatauts were as
numerous as those around WashjngtOn
was Leipsic. in 1913, where Napoleon had
I 1000, and the allics-ltussians, Aus
trians, PruSsians, Swcdes and Germans
numbered 10000 Nearly half mill on
of men took part in this tremendous bat
tie, which was known as the Combat of
the Giants 1t lasted three days and
ended in the com, lete overthrow of Na-
poleor, who was driven into France, where
series OF disasters commenced that did
not end until Napoleon abdicated his
crown and was exiled to the island of
Elba in 1874 No battle was ever fought
on the soil Of the United States where
10000 combatants took part in it on both
sides
From these figures we can judge of
what q battle we have reason to expect
when the hosts of Mcclellan and Beaure-
guard. more than twice the number of
those of Napoleon and Wellington at
Waterloo, come in collision on the banks
of the Potomac 1t will be an event that
will be the great military feature, prob
ably, for ages to come, of martial proves
in America Washington never had thir-
ty thousand men in one army under his
command; jackson never had fifteen
thousand, and Scott never before the pres
ent year had seen twenty thousand troops
under his orders Great is the ability re-
ouired to maneuyer and handle such a
large body of men, and bring them all
lulO ittlOii dt tiiS iLptNi e''iiS s''A f''ss>s'
The late battle at Bul! Run extended
over seven miles from one end of our lire
to the other At Washington, probably,
the battle may be raging over field dou,
bic this size.
To know what is going on in such an
amphlthcatre, and to be prepared to order
up reserves and strengthen every exposed
D int, requires the highest degree OF in
tellect At the battle OF Bull Run bali
of both armies never fred Il shot. Beau
resuard had forty thousand men at Ma
nassas Junction, only three miles distant
whom he never used, ana yet he would
have been defeated had it not been fol-
, the opportune and unexpected arrival oi
a portion of General Johnsons army from
the Upper Potomac. Mcdowell had q
powerful reserve, that took no part what
ever in the action, and yet it was strong
enough to have beaten back johnson:
division if it had been on hand at the prop
er moment. We have confidence tina
Mcclellan has not only plenty of men, bu
believe he knows how to use them.