Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1863-01-29
MORNING LEADER.
THURSDAY 1ToRNING. JAN .. 1s95,


The Rnilnre on the Re-
Full correspondence fom the army OF
ths Potomac reveals .neextent Of the dis
.-.a;v,-.o.. nslailure caused by the re-
-. - Tne plan, it is said, was sn
.~,.,,.n, -le. Every military man disap-
Of the mode Of attack last time
ENry military man approved of it this
me. Only the DEGREES of Heaven were
against it. It's denied, by the cOrrespOn-
dent Of the Times, that the fault lay with
The ouartermaster's department.. That
correspondence gives the following ae-
count Of the transactions Of Thursday, af-
ter the rain of Wednesday night:
"Thursday morning saw the light strug-
Cling through an opaque envelop Of mist
and daWned upon another day Of storm
Gnd rain. 1t was a curious sight presented
by the army as we rode over the ground,
miles in extent, occupiedbyi it. One might
fancy some new geologic cataelysm had
o'ertaken the world; and that he saw
around him the elemental wrecks left by
another Deluge An indescribable chaos
Of pontoons, wagons and artillery eneum-
bered the road down to the riVer-supply
M8EDuo upset AAc 4OuelnAAD--A tzAArLJ
"stalled" in the mud-ammunition trains
mired by the way. Horses and mules
dropped down dead, exhausted with the
effort to move their loads through the hide
Gus medium. A hundred and ifty dead
animals, many of them buried in the liquid
muck, were counted in the course Of
mornings ride. And the muddle was still
further increased by the bad arrange
ments-or rather the failure to execute the
arrangements that had been made. 1t was
designed that Franklin's column should ad-
vance by one road and Hooker's by an
other. But by mistake a portion of the
troops Of the Left Grand Division de-
bouched into the road assigned to the cen
ter, and cutting in between two divisions
Of one Of Hooker's corps, threw everything
into confusion. In consequence, the woods
and roads have for the past two days been
filed with stragglers, though very many
Of them were involuntary stragglers, and
were evidently honestly seeking to rejoin
their regiments.
{" Il was now no longer a question how
10 60 on; it was a question of how to get
back. That night Thursday the three
days cooked rations which the men had
taken in their haversacks when starting
would give out, aud the six days provi-
sions were in the supply trains, which
stuck fast in the mud miles behind. In
deed, the ratiOns had already, in many cas-
es, given out, and boxes Of hard crackers
were brought up on mules or carried on
mems shoulders. An order from General
Burnside to withdraw his forces to their
old position was momentarily expected
1t did not come, but instead, another order
stating that General Burnside had good
- fov- L. q, !
hold their present position till to-day.
But whether we should move forward or
backward, the first requisite obviously was |
to put the roads in such a condition as |
would admit Of movement at all. Accord !
ingly, allthe available force was at once |
set to work corduroying the rotten" |
roads and putting them into some kind of /
practicable condition.
Early this morning the army was or
dered back to its old camping ground, and |
about noon the infantry began to pass by
these headquarters. The lads trudged |
along tired enough, but jolly withall, and /
disposed to be quite faoetious over the
mud campaign" whose odd experiences
viii doubtless long form the theme of con-
Versation around many q camp FIRE.
Thus ends an enterprise which had ev-
cry human promise Of success, but which
has been banked and hrnnght tn naupht bv
have forseen nor prevented. The fatal
part played by the elements needs no COM
ment. Whether this drawback might not
have been overcome by vigorous effort and /
hearty cooperation on the part Of the mil
ttary leaders, is q question much mooted
here. There are those who assert that
bad 1t not been for the apathy Of some in
high places ofmilitary command, we might
stil have carried the day. This question,
however, is one more fit to be brought to
another bar than that Of these columns