Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1862-02-17
INDIANAPOLIS, 1ND,s MONDAY, ,.FEBRll1l AIRY Il, 1862

lts lOT lney are as lcdky as the present Weather.
Oregon, where it IS said to rain fifty two weeks
ofthe year. ~iE s. s-f r,eze ee-
But has he done anothing2 say that he has
done al that be could safely. Mcclellan has
/ not merely perfected the defenses of Washington
and the Potomac; but, considering the fact that
the force and the spirit of the South are concen-
trated here ON the Potomac, and near our Capital
and considering the untoward season, weather and
roads, IS il nothing that he has, as a Richmond
paper asserts, held Beauregard and his army as in
vice; and that too when the enemy have all the
advantage of am equal army, a railroad for con
centraton IN the rear. and power of combna-
ton impossible for our General
But he delayed too long here; and he is taken
to task now because he does not move his army
to certain destruction, by assauting an enemy
equal in number 10 his own, and that, too in their
intrenchments
My answer to this queruous questioniong Is.
first, that my colleague himself gives reason
why no movement could have been made the past
three weeks, because he says that the artillery
would 60 under the mud. Very well; does he
want that done2 Had the roads been on the 2lst
of July last as they are now, my colleague would
lot have been able to have escaped the CON-
panionship of my fried from New York. When
General Mcclellan took command here-I saw it
without any desire to reflect on General Scott
he found things disorganized, and combina-
tons between different parts of this grand army.
army effective in many details. This he has
done. Indefatigable even unto sickness, he has
accomplished what my colleagues "brave Wade"
could never have done, had he studied tactics and
war for century And third, he never contem-
plated moveo the enemys intrenchments 1t
is not too much TO say here that he intended first
to have General Buell. get the Tennessee road;
that for this end he has given all his energie to
aid him and hasten him in this purpose. ALI that
sk or fran
have been furnished When General Buell. took
command, he found his troops Struggling and
scattered. He had to gather them, and concen-.
trate and form them into divisions He has had
bad roads and bad weather; but / speak know
ingly, when declare to this Congress and the
people, that delay of General BuelPs move
ments are attributable to any orders from Nc
Clellan. On the contrary, he has ordered him to
hasten with ali dispatch; not to lose day or an
hour in the heacconplishmen of the design to seize
the Tennessee II ilroad, to the end that not only
shall Eastern Tennessee be opened to the army
of the Union; not only to give relief TO the Union
men of Tennessee, about whom my colleague
makes SO injudciousa jeremaid, but to the grand
aim, TO cut off this rebel army of the Potomac,
not alone from the line of their supplies, but from
the line of their retreat
In Kentucky we have more than one hundred
thousand soldiers, ready, eager, active. and tri-
umphant whenever they haze had any chance in
a battle. McClellans orders are for the speediest
movement there possible.
NY colleague praises the recent victory of our
'roops at Mill Spring L share with him, as my
constituents did with his, the pride of that hard
fought encounter; but viii not shame my State,
which called Mcclellan to her service. by pluck
Jag the laurels from his brow when there is not
soldier in that battle who will not rejoice to see
him wear them, as well for his conduct IN West
ern Virginia for the strategy by which even
hat 10 xva nj nh a
distance. 1t was, as said a part of his design
upon the Tennessee railroad; and there is no inn
pediment, but every encouragement from him,
tor Gen. Buell. to forward the movement to that
desired end - - -,
In Eastern Kentucky Humphrey Marshall has
proved that while his spirit was willing, his flesh
was weak Ilaughterl-before the Ohio soldiers
under Garfield. Zolicoffer has been killed, and
his forces routed; and nothing but the impedi-
ments OF nature prevent our soldiers from lifting
our ensign upon the mountains of Tennessee.
North Carolina and Alabama. In fear for the
fate of Memphis, Beauregard is hurried out to
Columbus. Kentucky, to avert the Northern ava
iancbe which impends there; while Buell., with
consummate skill, is drawing his fatal lines
around the Confederates, as the lines have been
drawn in Virginia.
But it is said that the Potomac is bloekaded.
So it is; hut it is of no practical Disadvantage.
For all the purposes of supply we are in commu-
nication with every part of the north. There
are compensations, perhaps unknown to my col
league, for this seeming disadvantage. Would
that he would exercise his faith in some things
inscrutable to him.
But is there no credit to be given for the reten
ton of Maryland; the rescue of the Virginia east
ern shore; the constant preparation and discip
line of an army of one hundred thousand men
here? And all this with the Secretary of War
dabbling in slavery questions and traficking in
contracts. W 4t ~
Western Virginia we have held against the
hostility of the disoyal Floyd has been
compelled to decamp, and from the noun
tains to the Ohio outright there is none to dis
pnte.r ~ s+ gfs
But, sir, although General Mcclellan has had
charge of all these matters, and is entitled to
share their merit, it was not my purpose to paint
picture of ouI successes. We have gained as
yet no great bloody battle commensurate with
the armies in the field. Indeed sir, / would pre-
fer that the war should be carried on and ended
BY bloodIess tictics than by bloody carnage ii it
were possible. would leave as little hate as
possible as the legacy of this conflict. If it
were possible to close this war by the melting
away or the capituaton of the Confederate
army, the country would prefer it; General
Mcclellan is not making this a war of ven
geance. but war for the restoration OF the
Unonl $3.50
To this end he has, by his comprehensive
energy, seized the coast from Ship Island 10
Fortress Monroe There is no example in his
tory of sea-coast SO extensive, and a couE.ry
of such area, surrounded and closed I'M by such
superior force is the rebellious part Of our
land 1tee
As the curtain lifts and this procession of facts
transpire, we shall see the Union element of the
South dilating and emerging from its despond-
ensy. We shall see the loyal men coming forth
and gladly Selling the musket to rally TO the
old flag.
The great mistake on the part of these mil
tary hedglngs, who criteise the conduct of the
war, is, that they habitualy underrate the extent
and strength of the rebellion, Just they under
rated and contemned the alleged or fancied griev-
ances of the South and their hold on the south
ern mind ] venture to say that is the capital de-
linquency of the Administration, if they have
been delinquent. Had they realized the fact,
''thata considerable body of insus ents had risen
against the sovereign" which Vattel alleges is
the test of civil war; with all its appurtenances
of a humane code of warfare, the exchange Of
prisoners, &c, we might have had less difficulty
and more honor in the conduct of this immense
ordeal by battle. Those who do not recognize
the fact OF the immensity of this rebellion will
find at every step difficulties about belgerent
rights on sea and land, ana inhuinaE,ties which
would sicken the heart of a savage. We must
learn by experience, If not priori.
Even my colleague, with his Bull Run retreat,
is yet in his homage. cmust resort to the Ba-
conian system Of induction, and by experience
to learn, and begin 70 learn by being child in
arms" (Laughter.l la surveying this grand
field OF action, from this capital to Sante Fe. he
makes the mistake which the savan made shen
he supposed the sannihilated because an
animalcule had crept over the disc OF bis tele-
scope and obscured the view Let him, take