The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-08-01

THE LESSONS pr Our LATE DEFEAr.--tf we are
to derive any beth,ft from the severe lesson
| caught rs by the rebels ut Manassas. we must
| moi Disguise from ourselves tue real origin of
the plumbers committed thexf. OF the various
causes assigned for our failure 20 make decent
! retreat, there is not one that could have exer.
| cisat any serious influence on she fortunes of
'hc day bad tire battle beer fougiN on our shlc
under tha 't4'ial military conditions. BY some
The dAgraeeful rout of our troops is attributed
70 panic amongst the civilians and transfers.
There is no doubt that these latter behaved
shamefulN. AT the first alarm all ran, politi-
cians' tohSre wipen, newspaper correspondents,
anu even the war editors, whose falminatloes
against General Scott had precipitated this les-S.
perate undertaking. Csc Of these worthless he I
ofthe Mincio--wac 30 terribly frightened that he
had the traces of he carriage cut, and made his
escape On one of the horses barcbNcksS The
nngr@tef"' little scamp now refuses to p,ay the !
cost OF the damage done to the yehio,es in the
retfeat'to which his roltronery had gihen the
first impulse.
by Others it is charged that TIE panic W W oc-
casioneh by the regulars, who, in the
contempt entertained by themfor Che voIa ntmrs,
drove their empty caissons furiously through
their ranks when it became necessary to SIND
to the rear for ammunition. This, It is prese, I'd
ed started the idea that the advanced divislo rs
were giving way, and that the dny was los T.
Seeing the regulers fly, as they thought, the vt v
Hntecrs felt no scruplc in providing for thei
safety
Assuming that these statement are true. il is
not the less obvious'that if there hadbesn any
thing like organization in our AMY, the panic
could only have been momentsry in its effects.
with an efficient commander neisher civilians \
nor camp followers ooald have succeeded long I
IN producing confusion Moreover, the very |
presence of the formT ON the field was an evil
denee of gross misrsanagemcnt. The plain
truth OF tho matter Is chat 1t was not to any of
These causes, but to the want of general COM
petetit to hanfle our troops, that the disgrace
upon our arms was due Gene
raj Mcdowell may her very COED. STAFF
or brigade cdfcer but he has sbown
hinrself incompetent TO conduct military opera-
tions on large scale. The fact chat come Of
the divisions foaght the whole day without re-
cciving singla order from him provee either
that he had no we'll defined plan of assault or
mad completely lost his presence Of mind. The
conclusion, therefore, is inevitable as to where
the blame of this disaster rests The veteran
Commanderin-Chiefi is responsible for it in two
ways-dirst, for yielding tothe pressure brought
to bear upon him by JacoJin journalists to CON-
pei him to move forward before he was ready:
and secondly, for entrussihg the directioa Of
such important operatiorsSt to u leader 50 little
fitted for 1t as General Mcdowell has psoved
himself to be-.
As unexpectedly said, however, LIE les
son, though, a severe OF ais worth all Is cost.
Neither the administration. nor the military au-
thorties Will again dara to consult political
necessities or persona, specifications iii the
Of the campaign. 1t waited but
this to Insure the triumph of our arms,