, 1862-07-19
THE CONDUCT OF THE. WAR.
Speech Of Senator Chandler,
of Michigan.
IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE,
JULY 9Th.

10 The fact that the Committee on the Con-.
auct OF the War had been engaged in fnVesdr
CATION, and had collected deal Of evidence.
to the battle Of Bull Ruu, he said
there was coMmn Of 10000 men, under
ordered either to attack the enemy ]
or else keep him engaged, SO he could not re-
inforce at Manassas. Patterson telegraphed
that Johnston had a superior force, and ga
received large reintorcements, when the tact
was that Johnston received no reinforce
4nents and had Less force than Patterson The
reason Of the loss Of the battle OF Bull Kun
Was the delay from Thursday TIL Sunday, by
coming; the delay of Sunday morning, in
consequence Of Kejes' brigade not getting In
position; the arrival Of Jonnston'a reinforce
mentE; the disaster In plactng 9 battery q
Thousand yards In advance, and mlstak1ns q
rebel regilnentfor battery support, and the
failure to briDgup the reserve at the Critical
time, But the Losses ofBull Run were small,
aid tie people rallied, til, on the 10th Of De-
cember, the roll was le5, 4s5 men. R1tn 9ni III
for Gen. Burnside, all under COMMAND o.
Gen. Mcclellan.
&c then referred to the battle Of Balls
Bluff, reading the orders to Devens and. Vol.
Baker, shoW wing that Baker supposed there
were Il, COO men Within twelve miles OF him,
and there was no evidence Of rashness on the
part Of Col Baker, except exposing bis own
person. He quoted from the evidence OF Ma
jor John Dix, who said that very few men n n |
tha enemy at Balls Blntfs, ant" this gallant |
oaiHrs sotte1ed TO 60, ifsthey would let lin
lave company Of 100 men. The enemy,s
batteries were in wood and it vas difficult
to tell what 1belr force was.
Recess till Z o'clock
EVENING SESSION. =
Mr.. Chandler resumed his remarks, and read
! from the testimony Of the general otficeTe,
Hppcerning thespatle Of Balls Bluffs, to the
Eftct that reinpfdamenis could easily have
Teen sent by the ny Of Edwards Ferry, but
| Mccall aud Smith were ordered to fal! BACK At
| the very time Baker was sent across the river,
and no men were sent from Edwards Ferry,
though the distance was short. Gen. Stone
swears there never Was any mounted guns
between EdEards' Ferry and Balls Bluff. The
God for the slaughter Of the brave men in
that fight After this wholesale murder, the
wlcle army Of the Potomac retired, except
from in front Of Washington. H. then read
:uither testimony showing that the navy de-
tor 1000 nlen to hold Matthia5 Point,
and keep open the Potomac, commenc-
ing such application as early as Jupe,
till in October it was agreed to send
men, and vessels we're gathered there By the
: were moi sent by the appointed time, and the
nary department could not lind out the
The evidence further stated that the
President assisted the navy department as
much as be could with this pIan but General
rangements tor landing could not be made.
Thus, he Eaid, the nation was disgraced Tor
months by the blockade Of the Potomac and
she capital by . force at no tlule hall that
Of the United States. In December the ma
q ton began to c1amor for q movement, and the
+ committee On the conduct of the war urged
| the necessity of some movement, and the
+ President and Cabinet were in tayor of some
c forward movement, and they we're assured By
a Gtn. Mcclellan that a movement wonld be
made yer5 soon that he never intended to GO
: iulo winter quarters, aud that he did not Our
It brave men spent the winter IN CANVAS tents
At last, in January, the President gave an or
der to forward, and those glorious NAnts tool
le place at Fort Uo1elson, Fort Henry, Ne sbcrn
&C., and do nothing strategy seemed to g1T'
l. way to works, aud the day Of spadks, pickAxe
Is aud ehove1s was over. On The I'D OF Feb
is ruary the army OF tho Potomac WAS olderes
~ to moyc; but it Was not ready. At last, ol
re the l0:h of March, it did move, under tn
is protest Of the commander: On the 10Th
:. March that army numbered 9S0. .oo0 men o
s. muster roll. They 1narcbed On Manassas ant
~ enemy, less than 10, 600, quietly moved away
at council OF var, eight generals vote
US not to advance on Manassas, but leave tn
IN epcny there and sneak around by Annapolis
Seven out Of the eight Of these generals Wei
OF appointed By the advice Of Gen. Mcclellan
d But tie Secretary Of war overruled this, an
- nlsde the arDy move on Manassas. Why tt
Is. magnificent army of 2230. QUO did not march 9
r. Richmond no one knows but at LAST Gs
:, Mcclellan divided the army and easled +.
TO Fortress Monroe. The committee on t!
he conduct Of the war summoned Gen Wad
II: worth, who swore that he had only 1870
men left to defend Washington, Al
nls not single gun mounted On Wheel
H.. uDdiEciplined, and some nearly disc
SUI ganized. He (Mr. Chandler) then read tro
r q the testimony Of John Tucker, Assistant 81
,xc retary of War, who testified that prior to
ars Mcclellan; then Franklin's diyisi On was ssl
tc. 12,U00 more; the 1st OF June McCalrs div
ion, 10 Ot0 mora, and about that TIME ILL.,
afT | from Baltimore and Fortress Monroe, n
ke last June Shields division. soopt o 5,ooo Ee
KS Central Mcclellan prior to the cngageme1
the before Richmond. Mr. Tucker turther t
IN :ihed that he did not know Of any other to-
W. which could have been sent to General
My Clcllan. Thus, Mr.. Chandler said. it is sho
ms that 600 Of Of the best troops that e
stood on Gods footstool hare been sent
cad General McC1eIlan, and yet the treasona
)ba- | press Of the country Was bowling against
, ~ Secretary Of War because be had not sent r
W .orcements to General Mcclellan. He r
Of ful ltccr from the testimony Of General Mcl
,,on cor1oborating Mr.. Tucker, and saying TINT
ALL believed every thing that McClellan asked
at- had been promptly sent to him by the goVe
=, 10 l 1}EUG- ali. tQAuQ1tE C0nlluutA. ba31AS
~ " Mcclellan lost more men in the trenches.
we to one, than ever fell from the enemy 81
bias The army vent to lorktoxn: Al toG last, g. !"
Tic my at Williamsburg, Mcclellan. at q long
DDS, tance from the field Of eatue, wrote dlsp:
+ha to the Secretary Of War that he should tn
'ne uo1d the enemy incheck; but they were tool
:tcd, The road to Richmond Vas open, and al
,ueh bsd to do wns to march out Of the s~.
and into Richmond; but be found the 4
l = nj %pf y3nh% f7ffV7 n
II he middle Of it and went to work dig
trenches, and tens OF thousands Of brave
VINO, were lott there by sickness. Then, ut
tired af'er: waiting till the enemy chose, f
ging- ~c,.. ] 1..sdx. @ We Eepf On dicripg trcnche:
laws at last thu battle Of Fair Oaks was fo1
act when the whole rebel force was hurled
oe* small portion Of our army, who viii
will them, and drove them back pen nell
spcr hlehmono, ana aseoss oarn1s .7h.+ nlsI1 - :.
nat 3 not be fair to follow a whipped enemy, N
than the battle Of Fair Oaks was lost, that is tt
+bat we won brilliant victory, but 1t did U
1na' good. It would have been unfair to tak
from vantage Of 3 routed army, 60 VIC mag
1oe+ mous1y stopped and commenced dig
1"sS There was no army in front, and no fntr
mat ments in front, but We did not know
acted else 10 90. ana SO Me commeheeo -, 70
tation had Impressed and drilled an army Of so
erlain from their entire population, and they
| jackson On q raid to Winchester, an
tN"e wnited for him to come back with his
lid be or sc, 600 men, and We heard that Corlnti
,;e;o1 evacuated. But 1t would have been
~A"to to commence an attack until they br
until their troops from Corinfh, and SO we '
out, 1or me army III iron ~ eot1ns ns aho tno,
o rise, hcped to raise, then We did Ii
wiring tack them at all: Thy attacked sa,S Us, gs.
tacked our right wing, and they buried
whole force on our right wing Of so .Q0<
He ns sho io1 and during the whole of that ThuRda
Good little army Of 81, eco held their ground 4
esiIs.- pulsed that rast horde over and over
and held their ground at night Wcl,
and 1snte1esmsnts meFe SEM sana % %
le gov tardiy amy back into Richmond the
!, Of its time. No sir, they didn't do anything
I'D kind At NIGHT, instesd Of reinforce
|, ana they were ordered to retreat: Well, 81
! men" was strategy. The moment We conn
ner;,a n our retreat, It is. said In the dispatch
enemy followed us like demons. Of
ess and they would. Whoever heard Of An ar
is one treating that was not followed, uRt;
- resc Tebe1s?. Our left and cent1e renal
'sneA W tact felnt was made on our left wi
onsume centre, as have heard from one Of the
lon Mi; men In that whole a11ny Of the Potoms
Lee Pou' SAID When his regiment was ordered
arms he had no doubt that he was &c
march On Richmond with bi4 reRtmeI
nx+.1i believed the whole force Of the enemy
P4sN tackled our right wing. He believed
up the wes nothing in 'front.' He believed t,
phta and hour OF triumph bad come ! al