Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1862-11-22
General McClellan-Letter from Gen.
Halleck to the Secretary of War Con.
Corning Gen. McClellah's Complaints
of Lack of Supplies.

HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
WASHINGTON, Oct. %, 1862
Hon. E. II. STANTON, Secretary of
War Sir In reply to the several
heterogeneous contained in your letter Of
yesterday, I have the honor to report:
Flrst.-That acquisitions for supplies to
the army under Gen. Mcclellan are made
by his staff officers or the chiefs of bureaus
here: that is, for Quartermaster's supplies
by his Chief Quartermaster On the Quar-
termaster General for Commissary sup
plies by his chief of Commissary On the
Oomnaissary General, &c. No such re-
QUESTIONS have to my knowledge been
made upon the Secretary OF War, end
none upon the General in Chief
Second.-On several occasions General
Mcclellan has telegraphed me that his
army was IN need of certain supplies
All these kilograms were immediately re-
ferred to the heads of Bureaus, with Or
ders to report.
1t was ascertained that in every instance
the acquisitions had been Immediately
filled, except one, where the Qusrtermas-
ter.General had been obliged to send from
Philadelphia certain articles of clothing,
tents, &C., not having full supply here.
There has not been. so far as | could as
certain, any neglect Or delay in any De-
partment or Bureau in issuing all the sup
plies asked for by Gen. Mcclellan, or by
the officers of his staff. Delays have oc-
casionally occurred in forwarding supplies
by railroad, on account Of the crowded
condition of the railroad depots, or of the
want Of cars but, whenever notified Of
this, agents have been sent out to remove
the difficulty. Under the excellent super
intendence of Gen. Haupt, think these
delays have been less frequent and of
shorter duration than is usual with freight
trains. An army of the size of that under
Gen. Mcclellan will frequently be for some
account of neglect in making timely requi-
sltions, and unavoidable delays in forward
ing them, and 10 distributing them to the
different brigades and regiments. From
all the information | can obtain, l am of
opinion that the acquisitions from that
army have been filled II ore promptly, and
that the men, as a general rule, have been
better supplied than our armies operating
in the West. The latter have operated at
much greater distances from the sources
of supply, and have had far less facilities
of transportation. In fine, | believe that
no armies in the world, while in campaign,
have been more promptly or better sup
piled than ours.
Third.-Soon after the battle of Antie-
tam, Gen. Mcclellan was urged TO give
me information of his intended moves
ments, in order that if he moved between
the enemy and Washington, reinforce,
ments could be sent from this place
On thes lst of October, finding that he
purposed to operate from Harper's Ferry,
| urged him to cross the river at once and
give battle to the enemy, pointing out to
autumn rains had swollen the Potomac
and impaired the roads. On the 9Th Of
October he was perampemptorily ordered
to Sc cross the Potomac and give battle to
the enemy or drive him;south. Your army
must move now while the roads are good"
1t will be observed that three weeks have
elapsed since this order was given.
Fourth-In my opinion there las been
no such want of supplies in the army uu-
der Gen. Mcclellan as to prevent his com
pliance with the orders to advance against
the enemy. Had he moved his army to
the south side of the Potomac he could
have received his supplies almest as readi-
ly as by remaining inactive on the north
side
Flftb.--On the 7th OF October in tel
egram in regard to his intended move
ments, Gen. Mcclellan stated that it would
require at least three days to supply the
First, Fifth and Sixth Corps; that they
needed shoes and other indispensable arti-
Giles of clothing, as well as shelter tents.
No complaint was made that any requisi-
tons had not been filed, and it was inter-
red from his language that he was only
waiting for the distribution of his supplies.
On the 18th, he telegraphed that portion
of his supplies, sent by rail, had been de-
layed. AS already stated, agents were
Immediately sent from here to investigate
this complaint, and they reported that
everything had gone forward. On the
same date (the 11th) he spoke of many OF
his horses being broken down by
fatigue. On the 18th he complained that
the rate of supply was only " $50 horses
per week for the entire army there and in
front of Washington" l Immediately d.
rected the Quartermaster-General to i'll
quire into this matter and report why
larger supply was not furnished. Gen.
Meigs reported on the 14th, that the aver
age issue of horses to Gen. McCIellau's
army in the field and in front of Washing
ton, for the previous six weeks, had been
1859 per week, or 1874 in all. In addi-
ton, that large numbers Of mules had been
supplied, and that the number of animals
with Gen. McCellan's army on the Upper
Potomac was over thirty.on thousand.
He reported that he was then sending to
that army all the hores he could procure.
On the 18th, Gen. Mcclellan stated in
regard to Gen. Meigs' report that he had
filed every requisition for shoes and cloth
ing: ''Gen. Meigs may have ordered
these articles to be forwarded, but they
have not reached our depots; and unless
greater efforts to insure prompt transmits
sion is made by the Department OF which
Gen. Meigs is the head, they might as we'll
remain in New York or Philadelphia, so
far as this army is concerned" | imme-
diately called Gen. Meigs' attention to this
apparent neglect of his Department. On
the Goth he reported as the result of bis
investigation, that $4,000 pairs of boots
and shoes had been received by the Quar-
termaster of Gen. McClellan's army at
Harper's Ferry, Frederick and Hagers-
town; that 10000 pairs were at Harper's
Ferry depot on the 2lst; that 10000 more
were on their way, and Is 900 more order
ed. Col. Ingals, Abide Camp and Chief
Quartermaster to Gen. Mcclellan, tele-
graphed or the 25th: "The suffering for
want Of clothing is exaggerated, | think,
and certainly might have been avoided by
timely acquisitions of regimental and brig
ade commanders On the cash he tele-
graphed to the Quartermaster- General that
the clothino uss not detained in cars at