The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1862-11-15

pohuehCe w winch hluSlOn mas Deen
made by telegraph:
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, !
| WASHINGTON, October 2S, 1862.
Hon. e. M. Stanton, Secretary Of Var:
SR-In reply to the general interroga-
tories contained in your letter of yester-
day, have to report
/. The acquisitions for supplies TO the
army under General Mcclellan are made
| by his staff officers on the Chiefs of
Bureaus here: that is, for Quartermasters'
supplies, by his Chief Quar- termaster on the
| Quartermaster General; for Oommissary
supplies by his Chief Commissary on the
CommissaryG General, &c, No such requisi-
tions have been, to my knowledge, made
upon the Secretary of War, and none
upon the General-in- Chief.
2. On several occasions Gen. Mcclellan
has telegraphed to me that his army was
| deficient in certain supplies. All these
kilograms were Immediately referred 10
| the Heads of Bureaus, with orders to re-
port. IL was ascertaiued that in every
instance the acquisitions had been inn
mediately filled, except one, where the
Quartermaster General had been obliged
to send from Philadelphia certain articles
of clothing, tents, &C., not having full
supply here.
There has not been, so far as / could
ascertain, any neglect or delay in any
Department or Bureau, in issuing all
supplies asked for by General Mcclellan
or by the officers of his staff Delays have
occasionally occurred in forwarding sup
plies by rail, on account of the crowded
conditionIof the depots or of want of
cars; but whenever notified of this,
| agents have been sent out to remove the
| difficulty. Under the excellent superin-
tendence of Gen. Haupt, think these
| delays have been less frequent and of
shorter duration than is usual with
freight trains. .r,r .i
An army of the size of that under
General Mcclellan will frequently he
for some days without the supplies ask
| ed, on account Of neglect in making
timely requisitions and unavoidable de-
lays in forwarding them, and in distrib-
uting them to the different brigades and
| regiments.
| From all the information l can obtain
am of opinion that the acquisitions
from that army have been filed more
promptly, and that the men, as gene
ral rule, have. been better supplied than
our armies operating in the West. The
latter have operated at much greater
distance from the sources of supply and
have had far less facilities for transpOr-
tation. In fine, believe no armies in
the world, while in campaign, have been
more promptly or better supplied than
ours. .IHd Ef.
3. Soon after the battle of Antietam,
Gen. Mcclellan wss urged TO give me in
formation of bis Intended movements, in
order that If he moved between the
enemy and Washington, reinforcemonts
cOpId be sent from this place. On the
ist of October, finding that he proposed
TO operate from Harper's Ferry, urged
him TO cross the river At once and give
battle to the enemy, pointing out to him
the disadvantages of delaying till the
autumn rains had swollen the Potomac
and impaired the roads. On the 9th of
October he was peremptorily ordered to
"cross the Potomac and give battle TO the
enemy, or drive him South. Your army
mast move now while the roads are good"
II will be observed that three weeks
have elapsed since this order was given.
A. In my opinion, there has been no
such want Of supplies in the army under
General Mcclellan as to prevent his COM
pliance with the orders to advance against
the enemy. Had he moved TO the south
side of the Potomac he would have re-
ceived his supplies almost as readily as
by remaining inactive on the north.
b. On the 7th of October, in a telegram
in regard to his intended movements,
General Mcclellan stated that il would
require at least three days to supply the
LIST, 9th and 9th corps, that they needed
shoes and other indispensable articles of
clothing, as well as shelter tents. No
complaint was made that any requis-
tions had not been filled, and it was in
ferred from his language that he was
only waiting for the distribution of his
supplies. On the 1lth he telegraphed
that a portion of his supplies sent by
rail had been delayed.
AS already stated, agents were imme-
diately sent from here TO investigate this
complaint, and they reported that every
thing had gone forward. On the same
date (the 1lth) he spoke of many Of the
horses being broken down by fatigue.
On the 18th be complained that the rate
of supply was only l50 horses per week
for the entire army there and in front OF
Washington" | Immediately directed