The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-11-08
The Young Generals I'm the Ficia-A y =
America in Command.

America In Command.
With the retirement of Gen Scott, the cor
troll Of our armies is left almost entirely with
Young America. Gen. Mcclellan, the highest
and the youngest Of our generals, Is thirty-siX
years OF age. With very few exceptions
among which Generals Wool and Mccall arc
the most prominent Of our chief COM
handing officers are more than ten years older
than Mcclellan. The average age of our gene
rails is about forty years. While history clearly
shows that advanced years do NOS preclude
great achievements upon the battle field, yet
we lind omens Of success in TIC fact that most
Of the great generals Of ancient and modern
times have won their great battles and their
fame during the prime of life, and that our &C.
nerals are at the very ages when their illus
trious predecessors gained unGadne laurels.
With young Commandcrin-Chief at the head
Of an immense army Of half a million of men
an army as large as any of Napoeon's, and ten
times larger than any before raised upon this con-
tinent-with this army, led by major and briga
der generals still in the very prime of life, and
opposed to q rebel force also commanded al
most exclusively by young men, we may now
anticipate war vigorously prosecuted, and we
may be sure that, while the rebels will prove
themselves worthy Of reunion our cause, sus-
tanned by both Right and Might, will be speed
ly and ultimately triumphant.
In ancient times, when the modes Of warfare
were different, but the standard Of generalship
was quite rs high as at present, the most dis
tinguished generals Were comparatively young
men. Alexander the Great won the battle Of
Granicus when only twenty-three years old,
defeated Darius a year after, and left q world
which he had conquered, at the age OF thirty
three. The victories which have made Caesar
immortal were gained before he was fifty
years old. At twenty-six years OF age Hanni-
| bal was Commander-in-Chic OF the Carthage
MAN armies, and accomplished his great eX-
| PLOTS before he was forty. Scipio, who defeat
ed Hannibal was but thirty-two years old when
he ended his splendid military career; and
way to the Consuship at the age of thirty
| eight. In more modern times we find hosts of
| great young generas--whose names our space
restricts us from gving-grouped around, and
| hardly less celebrated than, Napoleon and
| Wellington, whose fame they made, either by
successfully assisting or by unsucceasfully OPP
| posing them. But Napoleon himself is the type
! Of Young France. At the age Of twenty
he led the army of Italy, at thirty he was
| First Consul, and at thirty-siX was Emperor of
| France, having studded the annals Of the nation
| with those glorious victories whose lustre yet
! dazzles the world. Wellington, the rival OF
| Napoleon, developed his genius more slowly,
| as Englishmen become old less rapidly than
| Frenchmen. At the age Of thrty-tour, how
ever, he fought his Indian campaign, at forty
| four he concluded his Pcninsular trumphs, and
at iorty-six gained his Waterloo and perpetuated
| the old dynastics. In the Crimean war we find
the young generals represented by Tolleben,
who rose from a captaincy to generalship
within year. and who, at the age OF thrty-six,
transformed the open city of Sebastopo into a
| Gibraltar by his wonderful engineering skill.
| The war in which France drove Austria from
| italy. and that in which Garibaldi and Cial-
| DIM gave Italy her independence, have also
! their bright array Of young hero-generals;
| but we must omit their names to make room
| for those of our own worthless.
| Washington, tic Father Of the Republic So
distinguished himself at the age Of twenty.
| three during The French war; that the older
but less able, English generals regretted that
! taey lad not farther availcd themselves Of his
counscls; and at tie age of forty three he took
| command Of tie army Of independence. Hamil-
| ton, whose fame as solder has only been
cclpscd by his rcnoWn as statesman, had con
| cluded his campaigns and was Secretary Of the
Treasury at the age Of thirty: and Hamilton was
| only an instance Of our young Revolutionary
patriots. General Jackson was q Major General
| at the age of iorty-scvcn and won ,he battle Of
| New Orleans the next year. Genera Scott
| himself WAS a Major General At forty, having
won his rank by just such series OF brilliant
| skirmishes on the Canadian frontier as those
which Mcclellan fought in Western Virginia.
| General Wool was only twenty-five or three
| years old when he won his first laurels in 1872
and Decatur Cambridge Stewart, Lawrence.
and others, whose names each reader will recall
accomplished their immortal exploits before
| they were thirty years Of age That the oincns
favor our young generals can need no further
| proof
We can only hope and trust that these omens
Of good may prove true, and that our coun-
Try may be as proud Of her present young
generals as she is OF those who served her in
the past. We have placed upon them that
responsibility which either brushes men into
ignomny or renders them glorously immortal
They have before them a bright roll OF heroes.
whose fame is in their keeping; for a divided
Union annihilates the record Of those who have
formed and defended the republic. The last Of
these heroes has just resigned the sword he has
so long welded with honor TO his country and
himself 10 us be commits alike his honor and
Inc trust he has SO faithfully guarded. In the
words of cur new young cmmander-in-C Chief
"let us do nothing that can cause him to blush
for us; let no defeat Of the army he has 50 long
commanded embitter his LOST years, but let our
victories illuminate The close Of life SO grand
A UNION CLlNCuER in BiITnoRE-The city
of Baltimore out of 2l.0f9 yotcs--a prettv