, 1862-07-25

bayones, every horse, that could be
spared from any source whatever to increase
that grand army under Gen. Mcclellan in
R:cbmond2 We shall see. Gen. MeDoFells
force Was not sent down because it was
deemed necessary to protect the capitnl and
its vast accumu1a'ions of military stores- Al |
though the president and secretary of war
would have been justified In holding the
whole Of that force, Gen. FE2Dklin's division
wss taken from It and shipped to the penin-
eula at Gen. McC1ellan's most urgent so1icita-
ton, and It was bis urgent cry for reinforce
with Mcdowell, and, thus united, those two
Ct 1umns we're to march upon Richmond and
still further reinforce and aid Gen. Mcclellan.
As the manner In which Gen. Mcclellan has
bs en- treated by the war department, will
present the testimony Of the qu1rtermaster
general. Gen. N. G. Meigs testifes as fol-
lows. among other things:
= Question. VIII you give, Il you have NJ objee.
ttnn, an approximate estimate Of the number Of
troeps rent te General Mcclellan before the late
;, An<zesy: n doing %, shall have also to give
the grounds for ~ opinion: vas called upon to
am Informed by Mr. Tucker, Assistant Secretary
Of War, who gegotiated the most ot the charters
estimate Just after they sailed. By which il ap-
peared that about 1as,0n men. I think; 7l7,Gu
e s h Seea shlppea o9 ths pen
fneala. I do not Understand that Frankiln's |
6iSistoa 6l J. vas included r. that enamstatton..
have been 1000 or 19oGQ strong, and McCan's |
division, nearly eleven thousand strong hare been
tsR thsd Hof SeP R1 ~
drilled troops. and replaced BY newer ones from |
here, Baltimore. and elsewhere: The number Of
they were ahont eight or ten thousand men and |
about eleven thoueand men since these late bat
ties have been sent from Alexandtta they wefea
f0FE
we're take1 from here. have estimated rou2h1y
that would make total OF about one hundred and
t11g men, ron pd1 Est 70 5es
eince-a considerable number: and General Van
Vliet. who WAS here the other day. and was chief
quarteEmaster Of the peninsula told me that there
were about three Thousand wagons noW in camp
at Ba1sifon'e Point; We have sent horses down.
and aed tha' oe or
:" Question, Have you had themeans Of knowing
whether the Government has had it in It's power
than it has since his landing On the peninsulas
"dns1ceT. do not think the government could
have eaely cent, from any troops within its reach
He. lellan besond what 1t has already cent. few
hundred met GLe % or lesF wo1la amount to
hass called for Eore troops, raised them organ
led them. drilled them. and made them fit to go
there: for raw troops are Of no use, )"
Question. viii you state to the committee. II,
IN 3onr estimation, everything required By Gen.
Mcclellan Of the government has been promptly
"An&arer. 1 think So. know the government
bas desired to DO it. In my own department.
h4ye to aRnpphy Rgp s3sd S
departments.
present this testimony now partly because
we have not Jet had an answer to thu re7oln-
| ton Of the Senate asking for information ~
sula. It is not for me, sir, to state the st engh
! OF McCle1l9n's army at this time; but know
it is Isl. .00o men less the number lost By sick
ness and casualties. Does any man doubt that
tLis army, ably handle1, was sufficient? strong
to baye captured Richmond and crushed the
rebel army? I think not, if promptly led
against the enemy; bu. instead Of that. 1t sat
down in malarious 6wamps and awaited the
draf ing, armiEg, drilling, and m: king. sol
diers Of IN army to fight it, and In
ing awsy. Unwholesome water, ina ieqeato
to0d, over-W0rk, and sleeping In marshes,
were rupidly 6iliug the hospitals and over
loading the returned boats with the sick
Sir. We have lost more men by the spade tha1
the bullet-fye to one since the army started
from Yorktown under Mcclellan. Had the
soldiers been relieved from digging aud menial
latof by the substitution Of negro la5orers,
the army Of the Potomac would to-day, in my
estimation, contain 10000 more brave and
efficient soldiers than it does. Had it beer
relieved from guarding the properly Of rebel:
il srrne, many valuable lives would have beer
saved. Yorktown was evacuated after sac
ritce Of more men by sickness than the enem.
had in their works when our army landed a
Fortress Moproe. The battle Of Williams
burg was fought by q small fraction Of on
army, and the enemy routed: During the bat
tie Gen. Mcclellan wrote the following dis
patch, miles from the field Of battle:
lRecei7ed atWar Department at L. q P. N. May 6.
BVouAc IN FRONT OF WILLIAMSBURG,
May 5, III p. m-
Hou. Edwin II. Stanton, Secretary Of War:
River, / was Urgently sent for here i ind Jo
+JohnetnnQtn front Of me in strong force probabl
greater good deal than my own. Hancock Ia
taken TWO redoubts and repu1sed Early's nTtsal
by q real charge with the bayonet. taking one CO
mel and $50 prissnere, killing at least two eole
and many 5 MT ~ a1 was as
Int fear Hooker has lost considerably on our lett
lea.n from pFlsoRe5s That ihSy Intsnd dlsPni;in
$ at least holding them in check here, while II
1 chime the original plan,
ferinr to 1hat of the rebels, who will fight well
7 but will do all can with the force az M di
; posal. G; B. MCCLELLAN
Major General Commanding.
He would try to hold them in check !.
J. He could not hold them. He could not sto
= his eager troops from chasing them. Alter
: snlal fraction Of his army had whippsa the
entire force, and had been chasing them II
4 hours, he penn II that dispatch and sent it I
= the secretary Of war, ard, Il remembt
!. Alright, it Vas read In one Of the two Houses
l. Congress. AS you may suppose from th
q dispatch, there was no great esgerness in fo
{; lowing up that victory. Three Michigan reg
ments were not only decimated, they ~ere d
u vtded in twaia. in that bloody battle " lillian
:. burg. They fought there all day without r
intoFcements. One Michigan regiment We
1t rebels, killed by the bagonet, veite1iug
t. their blood. But who has ever heard, by a,
Z official communication from the head Of t
I. army, that Michigan regiment Was il t
h fight ut Williamsburg? do not blat
q. is due, for do not believe he kue
anything more of that fight than you or
y When that battle was fought and won,
B ~ the enemyfs works were cleared awaV, and
10 10 had an open road 10 Richmond There Y
be and Williamsburg. All We had to do was
,ir get through those internal s@amps, march r
and take possession Of Richmond. What {
eh we do? We found the worst swamp III
~ ~ vas between Richmond and williamson
Nd Nd and sat right down in the centre Of il 8
: tens Of thousands Of the bravest troops
he the face Of Gods earth, digging in front Of
ln- iItrenchments, and before whipped army
~ the enemy. We waited for them to Tecrn
DE DE lid lev e. masse. They were taxing ali
lay men and boys between the ages of fifteen {
I'm ffty-fye, and magnanimous1y we waited We
j. and weeks and weeks fur them to bring th
, forced levies into somessort Of consistency
an army The battle of Fair Oaks was fou.
: Tbe1e the enemy found again little fract
Of our army, very much less than half,
~ they brought ont thei- entire force. hav
a5' from the best authority that they had nc
" solitary regiment In OF about Richmond t
M 'M9t was fit to be put in front of an enemy t
" they did not bring to Fair Oaks and hurl u
tne s cur dtcimated army. Again the indomita
VII bravery Of our troops, (of the mel, Of
.1a private soldiers, the indomita51e energy
NC Michigan men and New jersey mtn-bt
has will not pa1ticu1arize, for all the troops fou
ana like lions, and the fighting capacity Of
ost army not only saved it from being utterly
ess stroyed By an orer@helming force, but 6
der us triumphant victory. The enemy y
me back to Richmond pell-mell. have beer
Ftn- formed by man who was there at the tt
~ ~ that t~o brigadcs Of fresh troops could
Ine chased the whole confederate army thro
nm the city Of Richmond and into the ia
ce' River, go utter WIS Their rout and contuslo
ase. And what did we do then? we 10
pro- another big swamp, and we sat down IN
the center Of It, and went to digging We bs
MS. to throw up pintrenchments when there Wer
iut1enchments in our front. no enemy that
the utterly broken. We never took advautag
the battle Of Fair Oaks, Again Mich
soldiers were cut to pieces by hundreds.
+be +he into the Judiciary Square hospital in this
'Ao and you will find mure than h4lf the occup
tfon are Michigan men who were shot at
Oaks and Williamsburg, men who stoed I