The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1862-08-28

hONSHb uOWu to uUlle VIII
McDowell, and thus united, those tw.
columns were to march upon Rich
mond and still further reinforce an6
aid General Mcclellan. Asto the man
ner in which General Mcclellan ha
been treated by the War Department
! will present the statement of the
Qnartermaster General. General nj
c. Meigs testifes as follows, among
other things:
!" Question. Will you give, if yor
have no objection, an approximate esti
mate Of the number of troops sent tC
General Mcclellan before the late bat.
tie near Richmond ?
"Ansaoer. In doing so, / shall have
also to give the grounds for my orin.
ion. was called upon to provide
transportation for about one hundred
and ten thousand men, with their artil
lery, horses, baggage, provisions, &c.
| am Informed by Mr.. Tucker, Assis-
tant Secretary of War, who negociated
the most of the charters Of vessels Mt
the first starting, that he made up an
estimate just after they sailed, by which
1t appeared that about one hundred and
twenty three thousand men, / think /:
Two hundred and seventeen thousand
horses eighteen hundred wagons, and
forty four batteries of artillery, had
been shipped for the Peninsula. l do
not understand that Franklin's division
was included i'm that enumeration.
Since then, Franklin's division, which
must have been ten or twelve thousand
strong and McCall's division, nearly
eleven thousand strong, have been sent
down there. Certain troops have been
obtained from Fortress Monroe and
Norfolk, being drilled troops, and re-
placed by newer ones from here, Balti-
more, and elsewhere. The number of
those | conld hardly guess at. should
suppose they were about eight or ten
th"usand men; and about eleven
thousand men since these late battles
have been sent from Alexandria: they
were part of Shields division, and
some regiments that were taken from
here. | have estimated roughly that
that would make total of about one
hundred and sixty thousand men, from
first to last, transported to the PENN
snla. We have sent more wagons
since-a considerable number; and
General Van Vliet, who was here the
other day, and was chief Qnartermas-
Ter of the Peninsula, told me that there
were about three thousand wagons now
in camp at Harrison's Point. We have
sent horses down from time to time, to
replace those that died or were broken
down and killed.
:" Question. Have you had the means
OF knowing whether the Government
has had in its power to send more rein
forcements to General Mcclellan than
he has had since his landing on the
peninsula?
"Ansaoer. / do not think the Gov
ernment could have safely sent, from
any troops within its reach here, any
considerable reinforcements to General
Mcclellan beyond what it has already
sent. A few hundred men, more or
less, would amount to nothing. The
only way, it appears to me, in which
the Government could have done so,
was to have called for more troops,
raised them, organized them, drilled
them, and made them fit to 90 there
for raw troops are of no use"
/" Question. Will You state to the
committee if, in your estimation, every.
thing received by General Mcclellan
of the Government has been promptly
sent to him?
"Ans,cer. l think so. know the
Government has desired to do it. In
my department have endeavored to
supply everything called for; and |
have no doubt that has been done in all
the other departments"
/ present this testimony now partly
because we have not yet had an an
swer to the resolution of the Senate
asking for information as to the number
of men shipped to the peninsula. 1t
is not for me, sir, to state the strength |
of McClellan's army at this time; but
| know it is one hundred and fifty
eight thousand men, less the mum
her lost by sickness and casualties.
Does any man doubt that the army,
ably handled, was sufficiently strong to
have captured Richmond and crushed
the rebel army? think not, if prompt
led against the enemy; hut instead of
that, it sat dawn i'm malarious swalnps
and awaited the drafting, arming, drill
ing, and making soldiers of an army to
fight it, aud in the meantime our own
army was rapidly wasting away. I'm
water, inadequate food,
ovrrwork, and Sleeping in marshes,
were rapidly filing the hospltai>, a"d
overlooking the return boats with the
sick. Sir. we have lost more men by
he spade than the bnllet-five to one
since the army started from Yorktown
,nder Mcclellan, Had the soldiers
been relieved from digging and mental
abor. by the substitution of negro la
,orers, the army of the Potomac would
o day, in my estimation, contain thirty
housand more brave and efficient sol
liers than it does. Had it been re-
ievcd from guarding the property OF
.ebrls in arms, many valuable lives
would have been saved. Yorktown
vas evacuated after a sacrifice of mnre
men by sickness than the enemy had IN
heir works when onr army landed mt
Fortress Monroe. The battle of VIII.
was fonght by small frac-
ion of our army, and the enemy routed.
During the battle General Mcclellan
yrnt.s th,. fulls,vin,r disnat..h miles from