Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-12-21
THE PROGRESS or THE WAR.
Annual Report of the General-in
Chief.

Gen. Halleck opens his very lengthy report by
taking up the Army OF the Potomac at the time
Gen. Mcclellan relieved by Gen. Burnside at
WaneHton, Va, on the 7th of November, 1862
Gen. Halleck urged Gen Burnside to continue
his pursuit of Lee toward Richmond. but Gen.
Burnside declined. desiring to move to Falmouth,
vet finally consented to cross the Rappahannock
by the upper lords and occupy Fredericksburg
Gen. Durnside's final march to and occupation Of
Falmouth was never authorized or approved by
the authorities in Washington. The plan which
the President assented to was to cross the river
by the upper fords and occupy the town. This
Gen. Burnside did not do. Gen. Sumner asked
permission to do when he arrived at Falmouth.
the river being fordable. but it was refused. In
the meantime Lee got there and intrenched.
The delay of the pontoons, which should have
been at Falmouth when Gen. Burnside arrived
there, is explained by the fact that instead of be-
| ing at w Washington, where they were supposed to
be, they we're at Berlin and Harper's Ferry, and
had not been moved, because he officers in
charge did not receive Gen. Burnside's order to
move them to Washington. The battle of Fred
ericksburg occurred December IL. Through an
alleged msinterpretation of orders, Gen. Frank
Inns attack on the left only a reconnaissance
in force and the attack of Sumner and Hooker
on the right was unsupported. We were repulsed
with the loss of l ,l38 killed, los wounded and
2,07S missing. Gen. Burnside has never made
any official report of these operations He says:
| 'The fact that decided to move from War
renton on this line, rather against the opinion of
the President the Secretary of War, and YOUR
self. and that you have left the whole movement
| in my hands, without giving me orders, makes
me the more responsible" fs
On the 25th of January Gen. Hooker relieved
Gen. Burnside. Gen, Halleck merely refers in a
sentence to the campaign of General Hooker,
says he has official date of it, and then
marks:
at is also proper to remark in this place that
| from the time he was placed in command of the
Army of the Potomac until he reached Fairfax
Station, on the 10th of June, few days before
| he was relieved from the command Gen. Hooker
reported directly to the President, and received
instructions directly from him. | received no
official infor of his plans of their execu-
| ton"
| Early in June Lee moved up the Rappahan-
mock into the Shenandoah Valley Hooker fol-
lowed on interior line. Neither army could
obtain much information OF tie other because of
! the intervening mountsins Winchester and
| Martinsburg were mere outposts, and orders were
given on the llth of June to withdraw the gar
rison to Harper's Ferry; but these orders were
not obeyed; and the 18th Winchester
attacked and captured. On the 25th of June. at
Frederick, Nd 4 Gen. Hooker, at his own request,
was relieved from the command of the Army of
the Potomac.
"Our force at Harper's Ferry at this time was
supposed to be about IL 600 Ii was Incorrectly
represented to Cen Meade to be destitute of pro-
visions, and that he must Immediately supply it
or order the abandonment of the place. Ac-
eorlingy, few hours after he assumed COM
mand, he assented to an order drawn up by an
officer of Gen. Rockers staff, directing Gen.
French to send 900 men of the garrison to
i Frederick, and with the remainder-estimated at
4,O00-to remove and escort the public property
\ to Washington. This order, basel on erroneous
representations was not known in Washington
tillstoo late TO be countermanded. 1t. however,
was nor entirely executed when Gen Meade very
Ijudiciously directed the reoccupation OF that i'm
portant point
/ Gen. Halleck then describes the battle of
Gettysburg; ascribes an error to Gen. Sickles,
which came near being fat1f to US, the second
day of the fight But the rebels were finally
defeated, and ito Gen. Meade belongs the honor
of wei earned victory in Of the greatest and
best fought battles of the war. The retreat of
Lee and the pursuit by Meade are described,
closing with this:
| "In the meantime Gen. French had reoccupied
Harper's Ferry, destroyed The enemy's pontcon
train at Wiliamsport and Falling Waters. and
and captured its guards Hating n day at Mid
\ dletown, Gen. Meade crossed the South Noun
tain, and on the 18th found the enemy occupying
a strong position ON the nights of Marsh Run. in
front OF Wilamsports ~Instead of attacking Lee
In this position, with the swollen waters of the
Potomac in his rear without any means of cross
ing his artillery. and when defeat must have
caused the surrender of his entire army, be was
allowed time to construct pontoon bridge with
lumber collected from canal boats aad the ruins
of wooden houses and on the morning of the
18th his army had crossed to the south side OF the
river His rear guard. however, was attacked by
our cavalry, and suffered considerable loss. Thus
ended the rebel campaign north Of the Pot mac,
from which important political and military re-
suits had been. expected. Our own loss in this
short campaign had been very severe, viz: 2, 1874
killed, II. 100 wounded, aud 6. $50 missing--in
all %, 1872. We captured guns "A standards,
4 IL .62l prisoners aud q, l7S small arms"
General Halleck then. briefly recounts the mi
nor operations OF the Army of the Potoma. up
TO the battle of Rappahannock Station, but
gives no new facts. etfl isDt- = Io3
Il The operations in Western Virginia Rave
been mainly OF defensive character, in repe.iDg
raids and breaking up the guerilla bands
4 The force in the Department Of North Caro-
lima during the past year has been too small
for any important operations against the enemy
But Hiii's operations against Foster in North
Carolina, web As Longstreets against Peck,
In Virginia were entirely unsuccessful