The Iowa transcript. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1858-1866, 1862-09-18
rl,c Cause ocour Defeat.

lhe cause OF our OCfeat on tn0 ShlCk-
ahominy, as the supc,ior numbers of
Tie enemy. We print on our first page
an extract from the report OF Gen.
Pope which wo are at present con
strained to bclicvcis correct, showing
some faults for which certain Generals
should swing from the gallows as public
enemies.
We also publish the following, re-
ceiyed by the Chicago Tribune at
the time Gifts date bu, suppressed by
them they say, con account Of the
cncrelible statements which it contain
ed" until after the publication ofPvpe'sf
report. $500
Correspondence Of the Chicago Tribunc,l
WASHINGTON, Sept. l.
X r.
seen. Pope's character, in this re-
spect, is in honorable contrast with an
other general, upon whose character
the events Of the past week have she'd
Il strong light Not content with dis
obeyins Gen. Hallcck's orders to leave
the Peninsula for fortnight, not con
tent with delaying the embarkation and
debarkation of his troops unrcasonably
long,as is thought, not content with fur.
thcr incxplicable delay at Alexandria,
he three times disobeyed the positive
orders from Gen. lIalieck, or caused his
subordnates to disobey them, which
directed him to push forward the corps
Of Generals Franklin and Sumner to the
relief Of General Fope; delayed their
march three days, giving tlimsy excuses
each TINA SO llat they did not arrive
until the battle Of Saturday was over,
although they might have reached Gen.
eral Pope, had the first order been obey
ed, in season u take part in Thursdays
battle, and perhaps to have annihilated
Jackson and Longstreet before their
rcintorcemcnts arrived. And had Nc
Clcnan obcycl the order on its third
repetition, and had Franklin marched
at , o'clock Friday afternoon, as direct
ed, Saturday night have seen a victory
instead of defeat. Assistant Secretary
Harrington, wLo was At Ccntervillc yes
tcrday morning, where he converscd
with, many officers, including Generals
Pope, Reno anl Mcdowell, found their
unanimous testimony to he that had 10,
600 fresh trools reinforced our f:ltigued
and half starved men At any time on
Saturday, the day would have been
ours.
'.lIa'f starved" I say upon the tcsti-
mony Of Cen. Reno, who said that wan,
ST food caused our defeat, and Of Col.
Rugeles, Gen. Pope's chief of staff, who
said at breakfast yesterday morning
that he had not had anything to cat for
twenty-fouf hours, and proved his as.
sertion by his valiant performance at
table. The army had but few supplies
when the enemy cut its communications
and rendered it necessary that it should
cut its way to its depots near Washing.
ton. As it had succeeded in doing so
by sheer fighting, the first messenger
who came through brought request
from Gen. Pope to Gen. Mcclellan, the
officer nearest him, for forage for llis
horses and fool for his men, who were
sufferlng-a request not, apparently,
inconsistent with the rules of West
Point etiquette, and at least justifiablc
as from a starving man to man abound
ing in all sorts Of supplies. The an
swer would be uncomfortable, were it
not given me by officials who have seen
the dispatches and whose testimony
cannot be gainsayed. The humane an
swer sent by one soldier who was loll-
ing near if not in the same headquarters
which he occupied last May, upon the
lanrels Of the Chickahom;ny campaign,
listening lazily to his staff, as they in
vented excuses for failure, laid blame on
others shoulders, and made .sif" and
"but" do duty to which no great gen.
eral or poor general ever before dis 2
graced them-this general Of the spade
and the newspaper, as he took the horn
Of plenty from his own lips moment,
ordered one of his staff to send word to
a starving brother officer that he would
be pleased to send him what he wanted
If he would only send cavalry escort.
This with two whole corps lying idle, in
disobcdience Of orders, within call
This with the guns Of the starving nat
ional army in his cars! General Pope
said, in transmitting the correspondence
to the war department, "Commcnt in
unnecessary"
The conduct Of Gen. Fitz John Por..