The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1861-08-08

In speaking of the reorganization OF
the army, the New York Woria says that
Gen. Mcclellan is busily engaged, work
ing with an energy and decision that give
promise of great achievements when the
time for action comes. He strikes un-
sparingly at every abuse; enforces military
regulations with a rigor unknown before;
is fast bringing every man, whether soidier
or officer, strictly up to the mark OF duty;
and is infusing into every department OF
the service new aninaus, new morale
we might almost say new character. Our
troops thus far have hardly deserved the
name of an army. They have been simply
a heterogeneous collection of raw volun-
teers, gallant in spirit individually, but
largely retaining the Independent habits
of civil life They have acquired GER
tain proficiency in company drill, but have
not acquired that sternness OF general dis
cipline which alone can give constancy
and compactness, and make an army that
can be effectively handled by single
commander Every fight thus far-inclu-
ding even that which is called the great
battle--has been only made up of mere
regimental or company encounters. There
has been no maneuyerlng on large scale.
But the operations that are now intended
will involve great combinations Of move
ment; and the army, to be equal to them,
must be a thoroughly well-knit body, ca
pable of receiving and executing the i'm
pulse of a single viii. The public will
observe with the deepest interest this
preliminary perfccting of the great means
whereby the great work is to be accom-
plished.
But a peculiar interest gathers about
the young general himself. Probably
never in the history of the country, since
the day of Washington, has greater op-
portunity been offered to an American to
achieve that which would make his name
immortal. He has been called upon to
save the republic at the darkest hour of
its history; has been invested with all
needful power; has been accorded, In ad-
vance, the whole-souled confidence and
support of the people and it now remains
to be seen whether he will be equal to the
mighty mission 1t viii require military
genius of no common order Does he
possess it? The mere fact that he is only
a new-made general-that IN the regular
army he never attained higher grade
than captain of cavalry--is no indication
of its absence The course Of promotion
in time of peace hardly allowed further
advance for one SO young as he was when
he abandoned the army for civil life. Nor
will the fact that he has not risen to his
present post by slower gradations be any
disadvantage. If he has any real military
genius, its action will be all the fresher
and more vigorous. 1t was truly said by
Prince Eugene Of Savoy--himself great
commander-that "the most successful
generals haze commonly been those who
have at once been raised to command,
without ever having oeen employed in the
petty calculations and maneuvers which
engage the attention of an inferior officer"
This young generals military faculties
have not been stiffened and dwarfed by
the small wearisome routine that necessa-
rily belongs to subordinate military po
stion in time of peace. He was long
enough in such position to make himself
master OF the military science, so far as it
can be taught by books. His elaborate
report upon the operations in the Crimea
sufficiently attests that The practical
views of war which he at that time was
eUaDieu 10 tdhc, HaNC, Wilhdi, itOSe duiil-
rably supplemented his previous acquisi-
tions by study. And it is worthy of pote
that the Secretary of War who sent him
on this advantageous tour of instruction,
was Jefferson Davis himself We may
trust that the very science which Davis
was thus Instrumental in enriching and
perfecting, will, by righteous retribution,
be an important agency in confoundIng
and overwhelming Davis wicked treason.
Thus accomplished in the military art, yet
fresh from the popular Institutions Of civil
life, George B. Mcclellan seems to have
been peculiarly fitted, in military sense,
for the great task now devolved upon him.
His chivalrous instincts, and his stern,
Christian virtue, unite in making him a
worthy champion of a sacred cause. May
the career that has opened SO auspiciously
be as grandly sustained to the end.