Sioux City register. [volume] (Sioux City, Iowa) 1858-1871, 1862-12-06
siilo9llt Gitp: 8tgister
THURSDAY. DECEMBER 4, 1862
GEN. NC CLELLAN yINDICATED
a+I PRlNCE D'JOINvILLE. 7


Clelan from the time he assumed com
mand Of the army of the Potomac to his
retreat to Harrison's Landing, and has
published careful sketch of the cam
paign, Of which we give few extracts.-
We should be glad to lay the whole arti-
Gle before our readers, but our limited
space will not. allow OF the Labor aud
difficulties of organizing the army Of the
Potomac, he says
'''" This prodicious labor was accom- plish.
ed With rapidity and success which are
extraordinary when we think that the
whole thing had TO be achieved without
any assistance from the past Not only
was there nobody to be found who knew
anything, excep, from books, Of the man.
agement OF the numerous threads by
which an army IS held together and NOV.
ed not only was the country destitute Of
ali precedent. in the matter; the mum Der
even OF those who had travelled in Europe
and seen what grand collection of troops
is, was infinitely small. The American
army had no trsditions but the Mexican
campaign of Gen. Scotia brilliant cam,
paigu, in which there were many difficult
ties 20 overcome, but which was far from
presenting the gigantic proportions Of the
present war. Moreover, in Mexico Genl.
Scott had With him the entire regular
army, and here there only remained its
feeble ruins. In Mexico the regulars were
the principal, the volunteers were only the
accessory, and, as it we're, the ornament
The old General, who was one day asked
what he then did TO maintain discipline
in their ranks, snswsrsd-'Qh, they knew
thst if they stragged off they would be
massacred BY the guerrillas. The two
cases, therefore, had nothing common,
and the management of these great armies
Of volunteers, in spite of all the efforts to
regularize them, was a problem which
presented many unknowa data
The following shows that at the very
outset the great commander had foes in
his rear more 10 be feared ian johnson
and his army :-....s.. tr.......... .,.:
"We have the right, we think, to say
that Mcclellan never intended to advance
upon Centrevile His long determined
purpose was to make Washington safe By
means of strong garrison, and then to
use the great navigab'e waters and i'm.
mense naval resources Of the North to
transport the army by sea to point near
Richmond For weeks, perhaps for months
this plan had been secretly maturing
Secresy rs we'll as promptuess, it will be
understood, was Indispensable here to
success. To keep the secret i, had been
necessary TO confde it to few persons,
and hence had arisen the long il-feelng
toward tEe uucommunieative general. .a
Be this as it m&s, as the day Of elec
ton drew near those who suspected the
Genera!'s project, aad were angsy at not
being informed of it; those whom his pro
motion had excited to envy his political
enemies (wno is without them iu Ameri.
ca p in short all those beneath or beside
him who wished him III, broke out into d.
chorus Of accusations 6f siowness, mac.
ton, incapacty. Mcclellan. with a patr-
otic courage which have always admirad
dsfained q fse accusations, and h4ie no
reply. He satisfied himself with pursuin 9
his preparations in laborous silence But
the moment came in which, notwiths,and.
ing .he loyal support given him by the
President, that functionary could no lprl
ger resist the tempest A council Of war
OF all the divisional generals was held; a
pi,n Of can:paign not that Of Mcclellan
was proposed and discussed. Mcclellan
was then forced 10 explain his projects,
aud the a xt day ,hsy we're known 10 the
enemy. informed, no pdoubt, BY one OF
those female spies who keep up her com
mnnications into the domestic circles OF
the Federal aeae my, Johnston evacuated
Manassast at once. This was skilful
maneuver Incapable of assuming the
offensive threatened with attack, either
at Centresille, where defense would be
useless if successful, or stsRchmond, the
loss Of which would be a grave check, and
pnabls to cover, both positions AZ once
,Johssen threw his wkoie.farce before The
| latter Of the two .s,spN - nn. n.fr, lie. .
For ihe Army OF the Potomac this
was misfortune. it, movement was un.
masked before it had been, made, Part 0,
its transports were still frozen, up in the
J Hudson Spch being the sttAis pf affairs