Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1862-11-21
lowed Hooker's single division to fgh,


unsupported from morning until my
arrival, near P. NJ, and from the fact
that his communications" from this
being the direct and nearest road from
Williamsburg to Yorktown, were thus
put in jeopardy; and that had a panic,
or even a defeat resulted here, that all
his army confusedly huddled together,
with an impossible, obstructed single
defle in his rear, where trains and ar
tillery pieces were helplessly jammed
together and stalled, must have been
victims worse than at Bull Run. The
case would have been irretrievable.
In vain would he plead that he dis
graced Sumner by sending him back to
Yorktown, from dissatisfaction at his
not having extrieated Hancock after
his pseudo victory, and for sending
away to the rear for me, the last troops
in the far defles, to support Hooker,
over pressed in the front For it was
not for General Sumner, commander of
a defined command, to substitute him
self for Mcclellan, the chief In vain
would he plead that Heintzelman should
have proved a genius, and improvised
some stroke of strategy, for the worthy
old General has never pretended, bat to
do his duty in his sphere, and the Gen
eral in Chief is head of all to furnish
plans, and to expressly blend into a
whole the energy of all, which was i'm
possible, as be was not there.
In vain Gill he impute to General
Hooker the committing himself to a
general fight, involving the whole army,
when few regiments would have suf-
feed to hold his own until the designs
of the chief were made known; for if
that chief is miles in the rear when his
army is in full career, there are very
few Generals, however superior their
talents, (and of such is General
Hooker who, under the long known
duplicity, and favoritism, and despot-
ism Of General Mcclellan, would have
ventured to risk his casting approbium
on them for hesitation, or do any more
than the best they could, and rely on
him for justice
Such is the secret of this incompre
hensible mystery, and it is within the
comprehension of the first citizen s
mind that will spread before him the
map of Virginia
But.if one point in this malignity,
working with a monopolized telegraph
and. trammeled press, has created with
me more Indignation than another, it
sadly is that the fate of my two most
gallant Aids, and very dear friends,
Capt. Wilson, Assistant Adiutant- G en-
erai, and lieutenant Barnard, have
been purposely kept from the honors
due to their gallantry; the same as was
the ease when my skirmish at Sangster' s
Station, produced the enemy's hurried
| N isH ass5ss, de rrea
by every underhand influence, from
ha wing published to the world tlse4lle-
roic end Of that most noble martyr. to
the first cavalry success-Lieut. Hedden
Yes, this is a representation Of those
times; for then, as now, | was the first
General officer whose reports had been
excluded from the press. General Nc
Ciellan, from the early commencement
of his career, seems to have singled me
out (the thirteenth on the list of two
hundred and twelve brigadiers, nearly
the senior division General Oh the list)
to be the marked victim of his indirect
injustice.
However, in this matter I am not
acting, however outraged, from personal
motives, but to unveil to the country,
when opportunity shall permit, the
weakness of the General in command.
| inclose to you my report of the bat
tie of the 5th.
Very truly yours,
PHI KEARNEY,
Brig. Gen. Com g Sd Div, Sd corps.
o. S. HALsrBAD, JR., Esq,
Willard Hotel, Washington.
N. B.-The following is in pencil, at