The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1862-11-20
Halleck on Mcclellan.

The following correspondence con-
tains, it is stateted, some of the reasons
why the President has concurred with
his military advisers in making the re-
cent important change in the command
of the army of the Potomac:
HEADoUARTERs OF THE Army,
WASHINGTON, October 2S, 1862.
Hon. E. NJ. Stanton, Secretary of War:
SIR: In reply to the general inter-
rogatories contained in your letter of
Yesterday, have the honor to report,
First, that acquisitions for supplies to
the army under General Me- cClellan, are
made by his staff officers on the chiefs
of buresus here-that is, the quarter
master supplies, by his chief quarter
master or Quartermaster general, for
commissary supplies by his chief COM
missary on the commissary general.
No such requisition have been to my
knowledge, made upon the Secretary
of War, aud none upon the general in
chief.
Second, On several occasions Gen.
Mcclellan has telegraphed me that his
army was deficient in certain supplies.
All these kilograms were Immediately
reported TO the heads of bureaus, with
orders to report it is aScertained that
in every instance the acquisitions have
been Immediately filled, except where
the quartermaster-g general had been
obliged to send from Philadelphia cer-
tain articles of clothing, tents, &C.,
not having a full supply here. There
has not been, so far as it could be as
certained, any neglect or delay in any
department or bureau in issuing all the
supplies asked for by Gen. Mcclellan
or by the officers Of his staff. Delays
have occurred in forwarding supplies
by said road on account of the crowded
condition of railroad depots, or of a
want of a sufficient number of cars, but
whenever notified of this fact agents
have been sent out to remove the diff.
Guilty. Under the excellent superin.
tendence of Gen. Houpt, think these
delays have been less frequent and of
shorter duration than is usually the
case with freight trains.
An army of the size of that under
Gen. Mcclellan will frequently be for
some days without the supplies it has
asked for on account of neglect in max
ing timely acquisitions for them, and
unavoidable delays in forwarding them
and distributing them to the different
brigades and regiments. From all the
information that / can obtain, / am ol
the opinion that the acquisitions from
that army have been filed more prompt.
ly, and that the men, as general rule
have been better supplied than in the
cases of our armies operating in the
West. The latter have operated a,
much greater distances from the source,
of supplies, and have far less facilities
for transportation. In fine, / believe
that no armies in the world in cam
paigning have been more promptly oil
better supplied than ours.
Third, Soon after the battle of An
tietam, Gen. Mcclellan was urged t.
give me information of his intended
movements, in order that if he moved
between the enemy and Washington
the reinforcements could be sent from
this place. On October lst, finding
that he proposed to operate from Har
per's Ferry, / urged him to cross th'
river at once, and give battle to th'
enemy, pointing out to him the disad
vantages of delaying until the autum
nal rams had swollen the Potomac ant
impaired the roads.