The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1862-11-28
The Halieck-Mc cIeIian Letter.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE Army J

3 OF WAR.
e Sir: In reply to tho general il
1T terogatories contained in your lctte
Is OF Yesterday, have to report:
I. First; That acquisitions for eur
Il plies to the army under Gen. Nc
!. Cieilsn are made by his staff officer
u on the chiefs of bureaus here :that |.
Tor Qnartermasters suppli 9, BY hi
Y ChieI Quartermseter on Quartermas az
ter General; for Commissary cup
: plies, by his Chief Commissary O,
Commissary.Genersl, &C., No sucl
} acquisitions have been to my know
War, and none upon the General
, in Chief.
, Second. On several occasion,
} General Mcclellan has telcgraphec
to me that his army was deficient
In certain supplies. All these tele
grams were Immediately referred to
the Heads Of Bureaus with orders te
report. Ii was sscertained that iu
every instance the requisitions had
been Immediately filed, except one,
where the Qrartermaster General
had been obliged to send from Phil.
adelphia certain articles Of clothing
tents, &c not having full supply
here. There has not been. 80 far as
| could ascertain, any neglect or de
lay in any Department or Bureau,
in issuing all the supplies asked for
by Gen. Mcclellan. or by officers OF
his staff Delays have occasionally
occurred in forwarding supplies by
rail, on account OF the crowded con
dltion of the depots, or OF a want OF
cars; but whenever notified of this,
agents have been sent out to remove
the difficulty. Under the excellent
superintendent OF Gen. H.upt, |
think these delays have been less
Ireqnent and OF shorter duration
than is usual with freight trains -
An army OF the size Of that under
Gen. Mcclellan will frequently be
or come days without tho supplies
asked on account OF neglect in ma.
king timely reqnisi,ions and una
voidable delays in for warding them,
and in distributing them to the dit.
ferent brigades aud regiments.
From all tho information | can
obtain, l am of the opinion that the
acquisitions from that army have
been filed more promptly, and that
thss, tehhss,m mgp} }tfshSsatpssr.al rule, have been
operated at much greater distances
from the sources of supplies, and
have had far less facilities for trana-
portation. In fine, | believe no
armies in the world, while in cam
paign, have been more promptly or
better supplied than ours
Third. Soon after the battle Of
Antietam, General Mcclellan wns
urged to give mo information Of hia
intended movements, in order that
il he moved between the enemy and
! W ashington, reinforcements oonld
| be sent from this place. On the let
OF October, finding that he purposed
to operate from Ilarper's Ferry, !
urged him to cross the river at once
and give battle to the enemy, point
ing out to him the disadvantages o'
delaying till the Autumn rains had
ew ollen the Potomac and impaired
the roads. Oh the 6 h OF October
he WAS peremptorilv ordered to croas
the Potomac and give battle to the
oncmy or drive him South. Your
army must move now while tho
roads are good. 1t will be observed
thai three weeks have elapsed since
that order was given.
Fourth. In my opinion there has
been no such want Of supplies in the
army under Gen. Mcclellan ss to
prcveat HE compliance with orders
10 advance against the enemy. Hat
he moved to tho South side OF th'
Potomac. he could h,ve received
supplies almost as readily as by re
msining inactive on the North.
Fifth. Ga the 7ih OF October, il
a telegram in regard to his intend
ed movements, Gen. Mcclellan sta
ted that it would rsqnire at leas
! three days to supply the first fiftl
and sixth corps, that they needle
t shoes and other indispensable arti
clos of clothing, rs we'll as shelte
tents. NJ complaint was IN ,de tina
e any acquisitions had not been file
, and it WAS inferred from his Lar
Q guage that he was only waiting fo
! tie distribution of his supplies. o
j. the i1th no telegraphed that a pp
y ton OF his supplies sent by rail ha
d been delayed.
g As already stated, Agents wei
lr Immediately sent from here to inve
tigate this complaint, and they r
=, ported that everything had gor
= forward. Ga the came date I'll
- l1th) he spoke OF many OF his hors
being broken down by fatigue. {
., the 18th he complained th It the ra
. . OF supply wal only $50 horses q
x week for the entire army there al
~ ~ in front OF Washington" imm
-, IL distely directed The Quartermsst,
:, - General to inquire into matter, 81
n report why Q larger supply was Z
y, furnished. General Meigs reror,
60 60 on the 14th, that the average iss
Il y.