The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1862-08-28

| place. The army Of the Potomac wa
not ready; but on tile 10Th of Marc
it moved. against the protest of tn
commanding general and eight out {
twelve of the commanders of division,
but the President was ineyorable, an
the movement must be made. 1t pre-
ceeded TO Centrexille, and there fUun
, deserted huts, wooden artillery, and IN
trenchinents which conld and can b
successfully charged by cavalry.
proceeded TO Manassas, and found n
Notifications worthy Of The name, dc
serted, abandoned camp, and dea,
horses for trophies. The enemy, les
than forty thousand men, had leisurel
escaped, carrying away all his artillery
baggage, arms and stores. Our arm
Of the Potomac, on that 10th day o
March, showed by its musterroll
force of two hundred and thirty thous
and men. Comment is needless. TIL
grand army of the Potomac proceede,
towards Gorionsville, found no enemy
repaired the railroad, and then marche.
back again.
Why this grand army of the Poto
mac did not march upon Richmond ha,
never been satisfactorily explained, arc
probably never will be. One reason
assigned was lack of transportation
but there were two railroads one b,
way of Aquia Greek and Fredericks
burg, the other via Manassas and Cor
tdonsville, which could have been re
paired at the rate of ten miles per day
and our army was ample to guard it,
Had this overwhelming force proceed
ed directly to Richmond by these lines
it would have spent the lst day of MAY
in Richmond, and ere this the rebellion
would have been ended. The grand
army, ably commanded, was superior
to any army the world has seen for five
hundred years. Napoleon /. never
fought one hundred and thirty thous.
and men upon one battle field. Yet
this noble army was divided and virtu-
ally sacrificed by some one. Who is
the cnlprit +? eaf
Before the advance upon Manassas,
Gen. Mcclellan changed his plans, and
determined tn b" permitted to leave the
enemy entrenched at Centreville and
Manassas, to leave the Potomac block
ade, and to take his army to Annapolis
by land, and there embark them for the
rear of the enemy To surprise him. In
the council of war called upon this
proposition, the commanding general
and eight ont of twelve of the com
manhcrs of divisions (and here permit
me to say that am informed that seven
of the eight Generals appointed upon
the recommendation of General were
McClellan) voted that it was not safe
To advance upon the wooden gins of
Centreville, and to adopt the new plan
of campaign. The President aud the
Secretary of War Overruled this pusil
luminous decision, and compelled Nc.
Clcllan to "move immediately upon
the enemy's works." He marched, and
the trophies of that memorable cam
paign are known TO the Senate and the
country.
AT Fairfax, Gen. Mcclellan changed
his plan and decided not to advance
upon the rebels with his whole force,
but to return to Alexandria, divide his
army, aud embark for Fortress Monroe
and Yorktown. After much delay (un.
avoidable to the movement of so vast
a force, with its enormous materially the
general-in- chief himself embarked.
Soon after he sailed it came to the
knowledge of the committee on the
conduct of the war that the capital, with
it's vast accumulation of material of
war, had been left by General McClel-
Ian virtually without defense, and the
enemy's whole force, large or small.
was untouched in front. The commit
tee Immediately summoned General
ardsworth, the commanding general
and military governor of the District,
who, upon oath, made part of his ties.
tinony the following statement TO the
Seer etary of War:
HEADoUARrERs MILITARY DISTRICT OF
WASHINGToN,
WAsHNGroN, d. e., April 2, 1852
SIR: have the honor to submit the following
condensed statement of the forces under my COM
mand for the deiences of Washington:
Infantry, 1886
Artillery, 1924
Cavalry, (six companies not mounted) s4S
20,477
Deduct sick and in arrest and confinement, l,455