Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1862-07-29
REVIEWS TIlE. CONDUCT Of TIL
YOUNG NAPOLEON"
What he says about tho - strategical Novcnent.

What he says about tho " Strategical Novcnlent"
Chandler, OF Michigan, has recently deliver
ed remarkable speech in the Yankee Con-
gress, an imperfect sketch of which has been
published by some Of our contemporaries
The speech occupies over one pase of tho
"lIcrad," and VIC select the following con-
Guiding portion, that our readers may see how
the Young Napoleon is handled by his
friends.
After the battle Of Williamsburg Mcclellan
sent despatch TO Stanton, stating that he
would @try and hold the enemy in check. %
In speaking Of this despatch, Chandler said:
lie would try to "hold them in check. -
He could not hold them. He could not slnl,
his eager troops from chasing them. After 4
small fraction Of his army had whipped their
entire force and had. been chasing them for
hours, he pcnncd that despatch and Sent it to
the Secretary Of War, and, if remember
Alright, it was read in one Of the two Houses
"f Congress. As you may suppose from thai
deSrntch. there WAS no great eaGrrneSs i'll fol-
loving up that victory. The Michigan reg
nlents we're not only dccimatcd-thcy were
! divided in twain in that bloody battle Ut VIII
irnsou-s.. ihey Tough. there all day wits-
out rc1'!orcemcntS. Une Michigan regiment
~cat inlo the trenches and left sixtv-tlrcc
lca,l rebels, killed hr ti.e hayonci. wcltcr;n.
i'll lhr:g blood. But y. Ilo has ever heard. hy
ans Official communication from the head oi
the army. ina. a Michigan regiment WAS in
The fight at Ei!iiamburg; ! do not blame
hla ior not giving credit where credit is due.
Ior do noi believe he knew anylhin. more o!
tia, t;rht than you or !. When that battle
was Tough. aud Won, Nil the cncmy's works
cleared away, and we had an open road to
t::ct:noid. There Wa; not Single fortilica-
ton between Richmond and Williamsburg
All We had 20 DO was to get through
those Internal s.:amps, march up and take
p"SscSson of Richmond. What did wc
d" We found tic worst swamp there
was between Ricnmond and Williamsburg,
and sat right down III tie ccnlrc Off and went
10 digging. We sacrificed thousands and lens
OF thousands Of the bravcSt troops that ever
stood on the face of Gods earth, digging in
fr"nt Of no intrcnchmcnts and before a
whipped army Of the enemy. We waited for
them to recruit We waited for them TO get
another army. They had 4 levy en- m,asse.--
They were takirg all the men and boys be-
tween the ages Of fifteen and fity-livc, and
magnam,!mUHSly We waited weeks AMI weeks
20 bring these lOTccd cvi,:S into some sort Of
consistency As an army. The battle Of Fair
r;:kS was fought. There the enemy found
;Sal'! little fraction of oar army-vcry much
less than hali-anrl they brought out their
c':.rc force. have 1t from the best authority
L!.at they h"a not 81 solitary regiment in or
.h"ut Richnpn1 that was fit To put in front
.. au enemy t'.at rhcv did not bring To Fair
OAKS ail'i hurl upon our dccimalcd army
.:@:in tic i::;!Onian,c bravery of orr troops
OF the men, Of the private soldiers, the
ind"hrlablc energy of Michigan men and
New Jersey mrn---bmt will not partic,l-
iarizc. for all The troops fought like lioms) and
IL" Ching capacity Of our army not only
saved IL from being utterly destroyed by
m overwhelming force, hut gave us triumph
::.L victory. The enemy went back to Hich-
,GpIn I"yl nell. lave been informed BY Il
man, vino was there aL the time, that Two bri-
..a,!cs al fresh troops could have chased the
whole Confederate army through the city ui
E!c.m1ud ami into the james river, so utter
was their rant and confusion. And what
dill We ,ln iIcu? We found another big
-. a.ni'. and We sat down in the centre Of it
.;i.,t 49,. - M. - bGG;tn tn throw ut
iutr"nciIuc.iC> ~ a,u front, no enemy that WAS
40, It;cri;, Jrokrl. We never took advantage
oi the battle Of Fair Oaks. Again Michigan
S".'tlcrs were cut ia pieces by hundreds. Go
:nlr ;hc Judiciary Square Hospital in this city,
and yIu will tind more than half the occn-
pants are Michigan men, who were Shot at
Fair Oaks and Williamshurg-mcn who stood
;ntil q regiment Of thousand men were re-
duccd to one hundred and five, and even then
did not run. Sir, these men have been sacri-
liccd--uSclessly sacrificed. They have hccn
put to hard digging and had fare, anu hard
sleeping; and if there WAS any hard fighting
10 do they have been put to that: and, be-
sides all this, at night they have had to guard
the property UfrrbrlS in arms. They have been
so sacrificed that two or three Of the Michigan
regiments to-day cannot bring into the field
two hundred and fifty men each out of q
,hovsand with which they started. Fair
Oaks was lost; that is TO say, we won n bril-
liant victory, but it did lis do good; we did
not take advantage OF it.. OF course ii would
have been very unfair t0 take advantage Of a
routed array Qaughter)it would not have
been according to our" strategy" Hcmag-
unanimously stopped and commenced digging.
There was no army on orr front, there were
no mtrcnchncutS in olr front; but we lid not
know what else to do and so We brgan to
dig and hitch: and we kept digging and ditch
Ing until the rebels had impressed and drilled
and armed. and made soldiers Of their entire
population. But ths was not enough. They
sent Jackson up on lis raid to Winchester.
AM! we waited for him to come back
with his 2n.0UU or 3u,DIlU men. We heard
that Cp-ii.tn WAS being evacuated, and Of
course it would have hccn very unfair 10
commence IN attack until they brought their
! troops from Corntl, and so we waited for
the army ut Corinth to get to Richmond
After he rebels had got all the troops they
ever hoped u raise from any source, We did
not attack them, but they attacked us as we
had reason TO suppose they would. They at
tackled o::r right wing and, as | AIN informed
upor what / must deem reliable authority,
Chev hurled the ma j"rity Of their entire force
upon our rig|!; wing Of 3U,OUD men, and during
tho whole OF that Thursday uIr right wing
or &o.u30 incn held their grotmla and rcpulScd
that vast horde Of The cncm. over and over
again, ami held their gromi ut night. or
| course YOU say 4 reimbursement OF 10000 or
10000 1acn was sent to these brave troops
that they might not only hold their ground
the nex! day, but send this 'Iastardly army
! into Richmond second time: Is at Fair Oaks.
No. sir, nothing Of the sort was done. AT
night. instead of scn,in= them reinforce
mcnts. they were ordered To retreat. That
was "stratcsy.' The moment they coln-
mcnccd their retreat, as is said in the de-
spatchcs, the enemy tough! like demons
OF course they would. Who ever heard
of r rctrcating army that was not pnr-
SrIc,l by the victnrS like demons, except
in the case of rebel retreats !? No other
nation but onrs was ever guilty of
stopping Immediately after victory
Other armies fight like demons after victo-
! ~ aud auIIihilalc the enclnY. bMt We do not.