St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1863-04-16

usiatslenan was hard 2, esaod and sent
to alcCkllaa, for aid,ahe Axas ,confertcd
With the sseply that lie lc0lellanJ bad
Supposed "thoso insftout could attend to
|thatlittls matter, aThe6ghting vas done
Exclusively ppdsr TIC direction ofsthedi:
vision commanders, aud by the time Nc
Clellsn arrived on the field the battle WAS
almost over, which accounts for the defeat
and fight Of the enemy. Several Of the
Generals testify that, hsd the enemy bean
promptly followed up after tho battle Of
Williamsburg, they could have bsen fol-
lowed right into Richmond-one of them
says without firing . gun. Gen. McClel:.
Ian made the ready excuse Of bad roads
4or allowing The victory to be void Of de-
cisivc results, aud for spending two weeks
70 moving less than fifty miles. On the
t2lst u May call for more troops. On
the. e5!h, jdst IS Mcdowell was about to
start to reinforce him, Stonewall Jackson
in the Shenandoah, gand rendeE-
ed the movement impossible. The battle Of
Seven Pines and route Of Fair Oaks fol:
lowed, where Gems. Sumner and Hooker
achieved victories Mcclellan being with
the main, body Of the army, until the even
ing Of; the last day. 1t is remarkable that
when the division officers. commanded ip
AZ engagement, victory was certain n; i. when
Mcclellan iuterfered, then was disaster.
Gen. Hooker aftcrwardsmade 2 reeonuois-
anco, advancing to within, four. miles Of
Richmond. when he was ordered back BY
tho Commanding General, Officers en-
gagged te.tity that The army ,couN haze
pushed right on to The eity Of Richmond
vtth ltttle re.tstqnce! But, n9; that was
not McGlx llau's "plan r On the Goth
and Gath of June the battles Of Mechanics.
vile and Gaines Mills. were fought. On
the night Of the latter day.: Mcclellan de-
termined to retreat, e danes River. The
actions Of sayase's Station, Glendale and
Malvern were fought duripsssthe retreat,
each ore being victory and here again
all the, movements Of the troops were made
by the corps commanders, without direc-
tons from Gen. Mcclellan. he being in
advance, looking for stopping place for
the army on its next days retreat! OFF,
GERS testify that after the battle Of NAL
vern Hill, where the enemy was so severe
" punished, our army could have followed
them right into Richmond. But retreat
was the order Of. the day; aud more troops
were called for. On the 3rd Of July he
asks for 100000, knowing full we'll that
they could not by any possibility be given.
Having arrived at Harrison's Bar, there
he remained, unmolested and inactive dur:
ing July and part Of August. Mcclellan
again asked tor mcro troops than could pos
sibly be granted, aud it was determined to
withdraw the army Of the Potomac to CO.
operate with Gen. Pope, then menaced by
= superior force Of the enemy. Thus end
ed the "great Peninsular campaign" =
~ Gen. H.lleck urged Mcclellan to hasten
the movement of troops to the assistance
Of Pope, and the latter assigned all man
ner Of frivolous pretexts for delay. The
following question and the answer from
Gen. Hallcck gives the full history Of the
failure; >".'~'
Q. Had the army Of the Peninsula been
ginia, with the utmost energy that circumetan-
ces would have permitted; inyour judgement.
as military man, would it not have resulted
in our victory instead Of our defeat!
A: Thought 80 at the time, and sti11 think 70.
o.. the l4th Of September the battle Of
South, Mountain was fought, and resulted
in victory TO- our troops under Burnside
and Franklin. On the. 18th was the bat:
tie of Antietam, where Gen. Fitz John
Porter's entire, corps was kept inactive
while. Burnside on the left was compelled
to retreat, Mcclellan denying him rein:
forcements. Gen. Sumner testified that
the failure to. make the battle decisive
was owing to. the commanding Generals
sending tho man into action in 80 small
bodies. The action was not renewed on
tho following day; Mcclellan refusing on
the plea Of the Reorganization Of his ar.
my. Gen. Burnside states that he inform.
cd the General that with 5000 fresh
troops, which could easily have been sup
piled from Porter's corps, it having MOI