The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1862-08-22

Having thus amply provided for the safe.
ty of Washington, General Mcclellan left
Alexandra with well organized army of
over 10000 men under his command. He
witnessed the embarkation of the larger
portion or them and then he hurried to
Fortress Monroe. His intention was to
advance with this body on Yorktown. The
troops which were to acknowledgements
corps, $4,000 strong, reinforced, if necessa.
ry, by 10000 from Summers corps)- were
to land above Old Point, and after certain
operations were effected, to cross the Pa
munkey near West Point, interpose between
Richmond and the rebel army at yorktown
and so cut off the latter and shut them up
in the Peninsula without the possibility Of
escape. In pursuance of this plan the army
left Fortress Monroe for Yorktown. Nj.
Chandler states that there were not 1000
rebels there; but the works were found On
actual examination, which led to sharp
action, to be strong and the enemy present
in large force. In this fact was seen tie
promise of the certain success of the plan
and the rapid conclusion of a campaign
which would utterly destroy the enemys
tuoiu "a my ouu give 10 Lie Copitdls
Does any man doubt" triumphanty
asks the senator (speaking of an army Of
$4,000 men, which, at this moment, Gen.
Mcclellan believed to be under his com.
mand), "that this army, ably handled, was
sufficiently strong to have captured Rich.
mond, and crushed the rebel army I think
not, if promptly led against the enemy; but
instead of that it sat down in malarous
swamps, and awaited the drafting, arming,
drilling, and making soldiers of an army to
fight it, and in the meantime our own army
was rapidly wasting away" Gen. McClel-
Ian, for one, did not doubt for an instant the
absolute certainty of first crushing" the
enemy's army, and then occupying his CAPT.
tai speedily, and with little loss. His cons
fdence could be seen in every movement by
those near him, by all who were in the Sc
crets of the campaign, and this feeling was
shared by all around him.
The execution of the plan of Glen. Nc.
Clellan had now been fairly commenced, and
it was too late to revise it. The first action
had been fought, and the mail body of the
army stood ready and anxious to execute
their part. Yet that veay evening, a0athSn
one hour after the last gun had been fired,
a0ithom any precious notice @hatever, Gen.
McC2ella1 received by telegraph the astow,d.
ing Intelligence that Nc DoaoeU's corps. nearly
Oaee-t1tsr0 Of his army-the troops On a1h5ch
the vital operation of the campaign depended
had been detached from his army, and aoere
no longer under his command! The execu.
tion of his plans was thus very eifectually
thwarted; yet, as if still further to embar-
rass him, Gen. Wool, with his command, in.
Guiding Fortress Monroe and the country
up to Hampton Greek, was also withdrawn
from his control. Can it be wondered at
that, in the words of the Senator, " instantly
Gen. Mcclellan began to telegraph for re.
Inducements, and continued to telegraph up
to the day he was attacked by the rebels ,"
What else could be do but this, unless it
were to resign and would the country
have forgiven him for that? Yet this is the
man whose patriotism has been called in
question who, without one word of public
or private complaint, has still stuck to his
post and labored as untiringly as at the be
ginning, when nothing was palmer than
that, when that order came, either his pa>
triotism or bis pride and reputation must
pass under q cloud. Was his choice a
noble one?
The army was now in false position !;
the plans and objects of the General were,
by the nature OF the case and the delay,
made manifest to the enemy in the very act
which deprived him of the means of execut.
ing them. The works were closely exam
ined. 1t was found the success of gener@
al result would be doubtful, the sacrifice OF
life so enormous as to cripple his reduced ar
mysfOr further operations even if it should
succeed, and the final movement which
would have made the position untenable
was now impossible.
Two courses only remained to him; to
abandon the peninsula or to besiege the
works. Of these two evils the latter was
the less and was adopted, and hence the me-
cessity for that unfortunate " ditching
over which the Senator groans. 1t was
the first fruit of the panic, real or simulate
ed, which was raised in Washington as
soon as Gen. Mcclellan left, and made the
pretext for depriving him of one-third of
his army, rendering the result doubtful, and
entailiDg, under any circumstances, an enor-
nous mortality either by disease or the
sword.
But the incessant teIegraphing" pro.
duced some effect? Yes; one of McDowells
divisions-that of Franklin--was sent down
to him, but it was unnecessary for siege
purposes and too feeble to do the work of
the whole corps, so it was useless, as all half
measures are-except, perhaps, to replace
the number of men sacrificed in the siege.
About the same time, perhaps by the
way OF filling Gen. McCelan's Geographic
demands, or perhaps further to secure WASH
ington, orders were issued to stop recruiting,
and suggestions were even made that a part
OF the army might be disbanded as unneces
sary! Senator Wilson has denied bis com,
plicity with this scheme, but the Congress.
sioaaI Globe and the kilograms at the time
from our own reporter prove his denial a
falsehood. The siege was prosecuted to a
successful termination, and on the 4th day
of May the enemy did that which, had sixty
thousand men appeared at West Point, he
would have done by the 18th of April in a
desperate attempt to save himself--he aban-
doned his works. But be had delayed us
month, discovered our plans, collected his