The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1862-11-26

which the right and centre Of thcar,ny was
to follow. Had this battle not been won,
the right and centre of McClcllan's army
would have been destroyed in Gro sing the
stream, and the left wing, powerless against
ri. II was fought and won; some of the
left wing having To cross the stream and
Ind their aid. While 1t was going on,
baggage, artillery, pnntoons, cattle, wound
I'd and strsgglerS, passed in safety, ana
when night came Mcclellan crossed him
sell, and ths bridges which hal been built
IL enable him to advance on Richmond,
were made the means Of saving his army
when retreatiny from it. Lee never antici.
latcd this. lie sent troops to follow Nc.
tlcllan OH the road by which he had ad
,anced, and by which, naturally enough,
he expected he would retreat; but McCiel-
Ian out. generated him. When the stream
was crossed the left wing became the rear
guard; and after fighting at Peach Orchard,
ut Fair Oaks, ut Sayaee's Station, at White
Oak Creek, the army came to Malvern
Hills. BY this time the whole confederate
force was masscd in its rear. and here Me-
Clellan had to stand at bay and fight anoth
er pitched battle: this battle, too, had to
be won, and won it was, though to accom-
plish this the centre aud right wing had to
join once more in the fight. When it was
over, the confedcrates, incapable Of farther
pursuit, left the wcaried army to find on
the banks Of the James River the rcpose it
40 much needed. u...
When history describes these battles, it
will place them among the greatest that it
has had occasion to record and though it
was \ retreat, on the whole, which McClel
Ian accomplished, il was retreat to which
victories were essential. If anything were
wanting to establish forever the character
If the man. it is the fact that at the end Of
this retreat Mcclellan was still the idol of
his soldiers.
Talk Of the Judgment Of the newspapers,
Of the whole rank and file Of outsiders !;
give me the Judgment of the army, Of the
rank and file, and the officers, who 90 to
battle with confidence that under McClcl-
Ian, after he has been tried so often, all will
be done that courage and skill can do to Sc
curessuccess, and who prove their conf
dencc with their lives.
OF the recent battles it is unnecessary to
say much; McClcllan's share in them has
been most brilliant The battl. Of Ante.
tam was planned and fought with great
Judgment, skill, GOODNESS and success. The
center OF the Conf.derates was too strong
to be attacked across the Antictam the
plan therefore. was to attack the tanks in
succession first on the ri GIT and then on
the left of the Fedcrals Could Hooker have
succeeded even with the help Of Sumner, so
that Franklin on his march from Pleasant
Valley. might have been stopped in the
nf n n az a INA
after him and get into Lees rear, as was
intended, the battle would have ended in a
rout, and thousands would have been cap
inadequate numbers, Mcclellan had to use
Franklin on the right, and he had nothing
but Miller's battery to give to Burnside !;
still, as it was, great victory was gained
Let us understand what is meant by
gaining victory. 1t is not the killing of
certain number Of men; and he who kills
the most does not win battle on that &C
count /; but it is the accomplishment of an
object Of your own, or the defeat Of an OBJ
ject Of the enemy, by struggle of arms
Thus Taylor won Buena Vista, because he
prevented Santa Anna from penetrating to
Saltillo; and Scott ~oi, the battle of Cerro
Gordo, because he drove the Mexicans from
the pass which they had determined to
maintain. So here, McClellan's victory at
Antietam was victory in double sense {;
he defeated Lees object in coming into Ma
ryland, and he forced him to retire into
Virginia. Could he have taken the whole
Confederate army prisoners, could he have
slaughtered twice as many as he did, the
victory would have been more cffectl,al in
Gripping the enemy; but it was victory,
and great one, Notwithstanding. What
Mcclellan will do next, no one knows but
himself; but that there is no man in
America who can do better, the past fully
justilies US in believing.