Daily national Republican., 1862-11-14

demnation so deliberate, scathing and terrible,
| from a military reviewer so thoroughly inde-
pendent, popular, capable and accomplished.
In the glare of the truth thus revealed, how
stale, fiat and unproftable," the low-bred,
vulgar abuse of Pet. Halstead, for his assumed,
wanton disregard of the wishes and memory of
his dear friend, favorite hero, and military idol,
| the brave Kearncy.
can only rejoice that the general thought
proper to place in my keeping that record
which will enable me, in spite of threats, intim-
| idations, and revilings, to vindicate his great
name and fame, and at the same time expose,
| from high military standpoint, the assumptions
and pretensions ofone, ofwhom, as an officer and
gentleman, he evidently entertained an opinion
so unfavorable and contemplate.
Your obedient servant,
o. s. HALsTEAD, Jr.
| HEADQUARTERS THIRD DIVISION,
| HEINTZELMAN's CoRPs,
Cumberland Landing, Va, May Is, 1862.
DEAR SIR am sorry to find that, very far
from military chiefs being immaculate, their
subordnates, relying on their straightforward
conduct and truthfulness, might disregard po-
litical influence as extraneous and unnecessary,
SO grossly have been outraged (and say so
us representing my diysion) by the intrigues of
the general commanding this army, that now
appeal to you and my friends for protection
against imposture.
General Mcclellan is the first commander in
history, who has either dared, or been so un
principled as to ignore those under him, who
have not only fought a good fight, but even
saved his army, himself and his reputation. And
here, precisely, is the point. From a want of
frankness and reliance in his native superiority,
he fears to admit the services of others (my d.
vision In particularly lest he thereby condemns
himself for want Of generalship, which gave
rise to the dangerous crisis. So a great and
successful battle, where the unprecedented
number of 1000 have fallen, Is passed over by
him in silence, while the day after that fearful
fight he forestalls the glory of the vctors by
vamping up, in deceitfu official telegram,
mere furry of skirmish, where Hancock, Ga
charming officer and gentleman,) with prepon-
derating numbers, drives, for an instant, u
paltry few of the enemy, with a pittaace of a
loss, which bespeaks the lttleness of the trans
action.
This move of Hancock's, based on informa-
ton that the enemy had abandoned their minor
deirnccs opposed to our right, to concentrate
their forces on our left, was gotten up at | D. m
expressly TO relieve from pressure the severe
fight Of the third corps, enacted by Hooker from
a. m. until my division, at near p. M, en-
tered under fire and took the place of his eX-
hausted remnants, dcmoralized by fatigue,
abandonment, and want of cartridges. The
fire, that lasted from about 4 !, for some twenty
minutes, and which then ceased, was most dis
tinctly without results, for it was not followed
up by any advance; and left me, used to the
fields Of battle In Europe, as In Mexico, with
the full belief that an attempted succOr had
been given up, and that ! must alone look to
myself for my own means OF success. For ]
well knew that, besides the repeated messengers
that had been detached to the right, by Gems.
Hooker and Ieintzelman, that all there must be
aware of our severe fight, from our cannon and
musketry, which still rolled with the full tide of
battle. This fire, tantamount to that of half
brigade, which l allude to, from about a to D
p. m. was the only one that took place within
three miles of my position after my arrival, at
81 p. m.-for was ever constantly far in ad-
vance on the plain, in the midst of the heavy
abbatis. Yet Gen. Mcclellan vaunts the one
and assumes to ignore the other The engage
ment where similar loss In the army of the
Allies constituted the great battle of the Alma,
an engagement where my few (5) weak regi
mcnts suffered more (somc 45O killed and
wounded) than the 1900 men of French di-
vision when, In 1859 II won for its general q
worldwide fame as the victor of Montebello
But when Gen. Mcclellan passes over, as II
in Ignorance, an engagement of such great
proportions, 1t proves, beyond the blackness of
the deed, which breaks down by its iniquitous
injustice the spirits Of his entire soldiery, that
it has been the result of malignant design of
covering up from the scrutiny of the American
public, a weakness of his own, a flaw In his
generalship which, he well knows, If once made
patent to our people, would bring him down
from MS acclucntal superiority loWeT tndH tnc
world ever dreamed Of, when exercising retrl-
button toward Mcdowell for the disasters of
Bull Run.
This action of Gen. Mcclellan has but one
parallel in history, his incarcerating Stone, one
of the dblest men of the army, on the plea that
il was done on the pressure of the abolitionists,
when ii, in reality, was TO damn past being list
cned to, one whom he knew, If questioned by u
military committee, would not avoid bringing
to light the incapacity (and subsequent con-
triyances to smother iD which had exposed
Col. Baker, and then left him, helpless, doom
ed and unsupported, at the battle of Balls
Bluff.
There Is secret in this matter, and although
patriotism, on the eve of an expected action,
may prevent me from publishing to the world
the weakness of the man, to whom are confided
our Union destinies, II does not preclude me
from vindcatng for myself and my command
a recognition of our service and exposure, (nO
officer has ever exposed himself as did, for
/ tie crisis demanded it, and unburthen myself
to friends.
As Stone has been mlitarly killed under Il
false pretence, SO the secret of McClellan's send
ing an official bulletin on the 9th inst, after
entering Williamsburg, In which he ignores all
but Hancock, and is perfectly silent AS to us,
and our battle of serious war, (although per-
fcctly instructed by Col. SwctZer, his A. ID. c..
whom he had sent on the night of the 9th to me
and Hcintzelman for information,) is this that
he might obtain for Gen. Hancock an lmpOr
tant character in tho crisis of the nth, the frs
prestige of It's capability of fighting (Which In
, variably petty disasters and long inaction had
induced many TO mistrust,) with which, viii
the cagerness of the whole North, 1t was ready
to greet the first victor in the Army of the Po
tomac, and thus kill the military success be
fore the country, of the real persons, so entitled
from the fact of the public being satishedby thu
first news-morc serious than this, net only
taking from those who merit the high sentiment
of first PRESTIGE but more particularly divert th'
, minds Of the country that the culpable fac
was, that he (McClellan) had allowed Hooker
single division TO fight unsupported from morn
Ing until my arrival, near p. ~, and from thu
fact that his communications" from this being
the direct and nearest road from Williamsburg
| to Yorktown, were thus put in jeopardy; ont
that had panic, or even defeat, resulted here
, that all his army cUnfusedly huddlcd together
with an impossible, obstructed, single detle II
his rear, where trains and artillery pieces wer
helplessly jammed together and stalled, mus
have been victims worse than at Bull Run
The rasc would have been irrcreyablc.
e In vain would he plead that he disgrace'
Sumner by sending him back to Yorktown
l.. from dissatisfaction at his not having extricate
Hancock, after his pscudO-yictory, and 10
A, If,rI I'M