The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1862-11-22

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to success. 10 keep the secret it had been
neces= airy to contide it to few persons and
hence had arisen the long i'll feeling toward
the uncommnnicaitve General.
Be this as it may, as the day of action
drew near those who suspected the Gene
rails project, and were angry at not being
informed of it; those whom his promotion
had excited to envy; his political enemies
(who IS without them in America?E in
snort all those beneath OF beside him " ho
wished him i'll, broke out into a chorus of
accusations ofslowness, uaction, incapactiv,
Mcclellan, with a patriotic courage which
| have always admired, disdained these
accusations and made no aeply. lie salts
fled himself with pursuing his preparations
IN laborous silence. But the moment
came in which, notwithstanding the loyal
support given him by the President, that
ifanctionary could no longer resist the
tempest a oeuncil of war OF all the divi-
sion Generals was held q plan of campaign
not that Of Mcclellan was proposed and
discussed Mcclellan was then forced to
explain his projects, and the next day they
were known to the enemy. Informed no
doubt by one Of those female spies who
keep up his communications into the do
mestic circles OF the Federal enemy,
Johnston evacuated Manassas at once
This was Il skIillul manGeuvre Incapable
otassumlng the Offensive; threatened with
attack at Centreville, where defence would
be useless if successful or az Richmond,
the loss of which would be a grave check,
and unable to cover both positions at once.
Johnston threw his whole force before the
latter of the two
For the Army of the Potomac this was
a misfortune. Its movements were I'M
masked before it had been made. Part OF
its transports were still frozen up in the
Hudson. Such being the state OF affairs,
was in proper TO execute as rapidly as pos
sible the movement upon Richmond by
water. or to n,aic ch upon Richmond by
land? Such was the grave question TO be
settled bs the young General in a inisera.
bic room of an abandoned house al Fairfax
within twenty-four hours. and it was at
this the news Of his removal as General
/ in-Chies reached him the news, that is,
that he could no longer count upon the CO.
/ operation of the other armies OF the Union,
I and that the troops under his own orders
were 10 be divided iton four grand corps,
under four separate chiefs, named III order
OF rank, a change which would throw into
subaltern position some young Generals OF
Division who had his personal confidence.
. IL is easy 10 sec that there was matter
enough 10 cast a cloud upon the firmest
mind But the General resolution was
( promptly taken.
TO follow the Coufcderates by land to
. Rich nond at this season Of the year was q
material impossibility An incident has
I Just proved this to be SO. Gen. Stoneman,
+ with flying column, had been sent in pur-
suit of the enemy This column came up
with the enemy on the Rappahannock.
along the railway to Gorlonsyille, and had
two engagements with him Of no great
importance Then came the rain. The
fords were swollen, the bridges carried
away the water courses could no longer
be passed by swimming; they were tor
rents. Stoneman cUlunih began 10 suffer
for want Of provisions, and It's situation
was pcrllous IL ords TO commucicat with
the army Stoneman hak TO send two of
I McClellans AIds de Camp, who had ac-
companied him, across q river on raft OF
I logs tied together with ropes.
Such was the country before the army
/ Further imore, the enemy was burning and
I breaking up all the bridges. Now with
the wants Of the American soldier and
the usual extravaganza OF his ratioLs, and
with the necessity Of Transporting every
thing through a country where nothing is
/ to be found and where the least storm
live unless it supports 1t supports it march
+ uDOn a navigable water course or railway.
, In Europe our military administration as.
sumes that the TRANSPORTATION service Of
an army OF one hundrel thousand men
can only provision that army Tor three
DAYS march from the base OF operations
. In America this limit must be reduced 70
u single day. | need only adj that upon
the roads to Richmond there We're viaducts
which it would have required six weeks
10 reconstruct
/ "The land march was therefore aban-
doned and we came back to the moves
ment 10y water. But this operation also
was no longer what il had been when
Mcclellan had conceived II. The revela-
tien of his plans to the enemy had allowed
the latter to take his precautions. The
I evauation OF Manassas had preceded in
stead of following the opening of the Fe-
! derai campaign. The moAement 10y water
could no longer be a surprise. Cntortu
natcly it was also to lose the advantages of
rapid execution.
A few days had been half lost in a
useless pursuit of the enemy while the
transports were assembling at Alexandria
At last they were assembled and the order
came to embark But here a new misun-
ierstaudng aw; tied the General. He had
been promised transports which could
convey $4,000 men at a time. He found
vessels hardly equal to the conveyance OF
half that number. Instead of moving at
once, as Mcclellan had intended, whole
army with its equipage, number of trips
had TO be made. Tie embarkation began
March -. The force consisted of
i divisions of infantry, 5000 to 10000
strong
/ division of regulars Gnf and cav.l,
5000 strong.
$50 pieces of artillery.
The total effective force may have ,een
100000 men At the moment of depart
ure a whole division was detached to form,
we know not why, an independent com
nland, under Gen Fremont, in the noun
tains of Virginia We shall see the Poto-
tomac army successfully undergo other
not less inexplicable diminutons But
we anticipate
a fortnight was requii ed to move the
army to Fortress Monroe. This point
was chosen because the apparition of the
Merrimac, and her tremendous exhibition
OF her strength had made it impossible
to regard the Federal navy as absolutely
mistress of the waters of Virginia.
The Prince here proceeds to graphic
account of the battle between the Merfl- /
mac and our navy, which we necessarily .
omit at this time; He well paints the eX-
tent of the disaster which the Merrimac
might have worked had she swept down |
! among the transports-those noa'ii's
hives Of men'-ere the Decentralization |
had been completed, and he ascribes her
inaction to the fact that by lying at Nor |
folk She paralyzed the naval forces intend
ed to operate in the attack on Yorktown,
and at the same time deprived Mcclellan
of the advantages Of holding the James in
his operations against Richmond.
TIE CAMPAIGN AGAINST RICHMOND.
o., This war n sure nnd rnr;l ,,,nro