Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1862-12-02
Plain Talk from an Irish Onioer to
his COuntrymen.
BRIG.-GES. THOMAS +. NEAGHER on REsIGNA-
- TIoEs. ...
HEADQUARTERS, IRISH BRIGADE, I
FREDERICKsBURG, Nov. 10, '62.

FREDERICKsBURG, Nov. 10, '62.
General Orders No. 10.1
The Brigadier General considers 1t expe.
dient officially to inform tue Brigade that
some few officers Ofbis command having re-
Gently sent in their designations, he felt it
to be bis duty respectfully to withhold his
approval of the same.
Being most desirous of having his feel
iDgs and intentions in regard to the brigade
fully understood at this important moment
of its career, the Brigadier General de-
parts, to partial extent, from the usages
of tue service, and, while he maintains that
he is accountable for his official acts and
conduct to his superior in rank alone, he is
influenced on this occasion by the friend
liest consideration for NIL those under him,
and of his free accord renders an explana-
ton of his action in relation to the resig-
nations of the officers in question.
Proudly bearing in mind, as he shall
ever do in life, the conduct of these officers
Ia not less than eight desperate engage
ments, the Brigndier General felt that he
would be doing au injustice to them of a
grievous character were he to approve of a
proceeding which, under present circum-
stances, would expose them to imputations
affecting the reputation. which their brave
ry, and chivalry have achieved. For this
reason, in the first place, the Brigadier
General declined to approve and forward
thsiETesiguations.
These designations, the Brigadier Gener-
al has reason to believe, were for the most
part prompted by the recall of Major Gem
eral Mcclellan from the command of the
Army of the Potomac. Unless he misun-
derstands them, they were intended as
signal expression of devotion to that trust
ed and beloved young General. But de-
yotion 70 a General, however popular aud
richly endowed with talents, aud by nature
magically qualified to attract and bind SOL
diers to him, ought not to be allowed to
interrupt for a moment the loyal and inti-
mate relations which should ever unite the
soldier to his flag and the citizen to the
State. ttzal ssa DFrr
Commanding brigade composed priu-
cipnlly of Irish soldiers, the Brigadier Gen.
eral considers it not out of place to remind
them that the great error OF the Irish peo-
pie, in their struggle for an Independent
national existence, has been their passion
ate and blind adherence to an individual,
instead of to principle or to a CAUSE
| Thus for generations their heroic efforts
in the right direction have been feVerish
and spasmodic, when they should have
been continuous, equable and consistent.
The placing on the public records the
designations referred to would have re
newed in the history of this country, to the
dispatagement of our race, this fatal error
of nature which Is at once so vehement
and so weak, so faithful aud yet so way
ward, so variable in great undertakings
aud yet so persistent in those lesser ones
(which merely coucerns chief, prince,
or the favorite political leader of the day,
/ For this reason, alsD, the Brigadier General
declined to approve aud forward the resig-
nations in question. But there was an
other reason still. AT this moment, when
the Union army conironts the forces of the
enemy, and battle of the grayest eonse.
querce to the authority and grandeur OF
the American nation is close at hand, the
Brigadier General holds it to be the sacred
duty efevety officer ofthe brigade to ap-
pear.dt the head of his men and With them
generously and heartily share the fortunes
of the day.
o4riloysd ,sud honored comrades--tbose
who carried musketsi as well as those who
carried swords-who. died the death of be-
roes in the swamps and woods before Rich
mond, from Fair Oaks To Malvern Hill,
would tnrn7 away, their faces from us in
their glory, aud disown US With parting
wave Of the hand which in this life did its
sworn work SO grandly, were they to be-
hold US acting in contradiction of the ex-
ample they set US, and 10 furnish rs with
which they were prodigal OF their beamiug
youth with all its promises, of their ma
tured manhood with all its fruits, of their
homes, their lives, their very graves beside
their kindred-welcoming and challenging,
as they did, the death stroke in ecstaeies
of disinterestedness and courage. -,
To stand, then, by the, brigade at this
moment is duty from which nothing but
absolute physical incaPacity should, OF
can, exonerase an officer. designations,
mount to desertions. They subject the OH
GERS to diseredit, Il not TO disgrace, who
urge them. They weaken the military
force, and tend emphaIically to It's demor.