Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1862-12-11

TINE MsDOwELL COURT Or INQUIRY.
"WEDNESDAY, December 10.
The court met at II O'Clock.
The examination of General Mcclellan was
resumed. a
Qusstions By. General MDowell, III M
@. What communication from the President,
through General Franklin os otherwise, dld
yoh receive q TO the sspef1tion Of General
McDowell's corps from your srmyl Please
state fully what you know Concerning that
separation, SO far as II relates to General Nc
Dowell and what communication, IL any, you
had made to the President concerning him In
that actioni .4
A. The substance of the communication
through General Franklin, from the President,
was that the President assumed the responsi-
bllity Of the charge Of destination of General
McDowells corps, regarding that corps as ne
cessary for the defence of Washington, al
though the troops actually LEFT In Washington
and In front Of 1t, disposable for It's defence,
were rather more than double the garrison
forced by the engineer and artillery officers,
and considerably more than the largest num-
Der, recommended by any of the corps COM
manders to be left In the vicinity Of Washing
ton. do not, at present, recall any communi-
cation made to the President In regard to the
separation of General MeDowell's corps. It
would be necessary for me to consult my pa
pers before I could answer the question def
nitely.
Q. Do you recollect having received any tel
egram from General Franklin, prior to his join
Ing you on the Peninsula, concerning Gen. Nc.
D., and in connection with the separation of
the latter's corps from your armyl
A. Yes. i remember merely the general ten
or of the dispatch, which was, that, In General
Franklin's opinion, from his knowledge of the
case, General Med. had nothing to do with the
separation of his corps from the Army of the
Potomac.
Q. What was General Franklin's official po-
sition with respect to General McD. at the time
he wrote the dispatch
A. He commanded division In the corps of
General Med.
Q. Please examine this copy of the New
York Herald, of Oct. 31st, containing q speech
Of Hon. J. B. Haskins, at Tarrytown, New
York, and state II the following remarks, at
tributed to you, to wit
81 have been unfortunate In not taking Rich
| mond In consequence Of my plan not being carried
out, because Med. did not reinforce as he could
have done, and, as 1t was agreed upon, he should
have DONE"
true in their letter spirit so far as relates
to General Med; and, If not true In this,
| wherein are they not soi
A. Gsmilingly.l The incident related in the
speech is entirely new to me. l never received
any dispatch informing me that Gen. Halleck
sure that never made the remark attributed
to me. / have no doubt said, for It has
ever been my opinion, that the army of
the Potomac would have taken Richmond
had not the corps of Gen. Mcdowell been
separated from 1t. 1t is also my opinion
that, had the command Of Gen. Mcdowell
Joined the army of the Potomac In the month
Of May, by way Of Hanover Courthouse from
Fredericksburg, that we would have had Rich
mond within a week after the junction do
not hold Gen. Mcdowell responsible, In my
own mind, for the failure to join me on either
occasion.
Q. Did, or did not, Gen. Franklin, on his
joining you on the Peninsula, give you verbal
message from Gen. Mcdowell that he would
endeavor to make demonstration or diversion
In your favor by going to Fredericksburgi
A. think he did.
Q. After the change of base to Fort Monroe,
Yorktown and on the Peninsula, was 1t any
part Of your plan that any of your forces should
go to Fredericksburgi
Gen. Mcclellan. You mean the original part
of the campaign, presume.
Gen. Mcdowell. Yes, sir.
Gen. Mcclellan. No, ii was not. All the
active troops were to move in the general di-
rection of the Peninsula.
Gen. Mcdowell here asked aud obtained
leave to present several documents bearing on
the case, which were read as follows;
VAN hpfll u,
Major General Mcdowell, Commanding De,d,fneI
RaPpdhannock, Hsadquayfsrs al Monassas: For the
present and until further orders from this Depart
ment you Will consider the national capitol as es-
pecially under your protection, and make no move
ment throwing your force out of position for the
discharge Of this primary duty.
tsigned) 4. M. STANTON,
Secretary Of War
WAR DEPARTMENT, April "a, 1862.
MAJOR General McDoireN, dquid Greek: The Presi-
dent desires that you should not throw your force
across the Rappahannock at present, but that you
should get your bridges and transportation all
ready, and wait further orders.
tsigned) =. NJ. STANTON,
Secretary of War.
HEADQUARTERS DEPARTMENT
RAPPAHAsSoCK,
Aqua Creek, April %, 1862.
Hon. E. M. Aant0n, Secretary Of War: am lust
over from Fredericksburg to confer with the officer
OF the Navy, who II was arranged was to come to
see me here from Capt. Wyman, Comma anding Flo
tilla in the Rappahannock.
The captain was himself at Fredericksburg, and
after communicating with the Major who told him
the town had been surrendered to the land forces
left without communicating with the commanding
officer of the troops. .
As soon Us IL was known he was there, the at
tempt was made to see him, but without success
have seen a copy Of his dispatch, and learn from
II that there obstructions the river to pre-
vent his going up with vessels.
The officer who came up tells me he met fourteen
ran nal hoats only dnx Thara hon r..