The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1863-04-11

,.hmoud, and that he should be reinforced 10
orSer to renew the campaign against that place.
The President visited the army abaut the 9Th OF
INV. but nothing was then decided upon.
HIs ARMY RN.RvArED.
IN the 25th Of July Gen. Halleck visited the
.,mv At Harrison's Bar, accompanied BY Gen.
Rurnside, who had come from North Carolina,
18th the greater portion of his force to Fortress
Tonroe. The general officers were called togeth.
~ and the question of Withdrawing the army
admitted to them. The council WAS OF rather
~ informal character. The majority OF the OH
lara expressed themselves in favor Of with.
s,.v. Of the army. Gen. Burnside testiies
nat a. be understood from the officers there, the
INV VAS not in a good condition, sickness was
;acressiog, many of the regiments we're without
.hslter and cooking utensils, and many Of the
men we're without arms. The general opinion
sInressed by the leading officers was that the
mem had become very much enervated. One Of
me- Leading officers said that his command could not
IN his o,is.ioa, march three miles and fight battle
This condition OF the troops was one OF the rea.
sops assigned for the final withdrawal Of the army
from the peninsula,
u'cLrLLAN's pKMAED FOR RE>ENFoRcEMEkrs.
Gen. Mcclellan applied for 81, 900 reinforce
ments to enable him to resume active opera.
tons. Gen. Halleck, when he visited the army,
informed Gen. Mcclellan that the Government
could furnish him oily 10000 additional troops
Gen Mcclellan consented to renew operations
with that number OF requirements, and Gen.
Hslleck left with that understanding. But the
day that be left Gen. Mcclellan wrote to him,
asking for $4,000 or 10000 troops from the
Western army in addition to those promised
him, urging very strongly that they should be
IN hoS a md tn he
West after Richmond should have been taken.
As this could not be done, the order was given
for the withdrawal of the army as rapidly as
possible. in order TO cooperate with the forces
under Gen. Pope, then in the presence Of asu'
perior force of the enemy.
N'cLELLAN's TESTIMONY.
In regard to the reinforcement of the army
While at Harrison's Landing, the testimony oil
Cen. Mcclellan is as follows:
"Questiop. How many available men did you
estimate that you had at Harrison's Bar, and
how many more would you have required in Or
der to undertake movement successfully upon
Richmond? a4F&. - tEfSd
ANSWER think had about SIS, 900 or co..
900 men at Harrison's Bar, and would have un
dertaken another movement in advance with
about 10000 more reinforcements. My view
was that pretty much everything that the Gov
eminent could have controlled ought to have
been m assed on the James river. did not be-
lieye that the enemy would trouble Washington
60 long as we had powerful army in the vicini-
ty of Rich mond, ard did not share the sppre-
tensions for the safety of Washington that were
entertained by great many.
81 asked for so 600 men at 6rst, on the ground
that thought the army should DE made as strong
as possible, and as little as possible left to
chance. When Gen. Halleck came down tI
Harrisonss Bar, my recollection is that he said
that about &C, 900 men, or something about that
number, was all that could be had, and said
that would try it again with that number j
have no recollection of having asked at sub
sequeut period for greater number than 90
0O0 as necessary preliminary to movement
"luestion Aotu, how many men had beer
lost from the 25th of June until he reached
Harrison's Bar, in killed, wounded and missing
answer think the loss was about IA COO
but could not tell positively without looking
at the returns. aa
"Question Will you state in what you
chances for success would have been greater
with the addition Of 10000 men to the number
which you had at Harrison's Landing, than the!
we're in front of Richmond, and before Jackson
had formed junction with the rest of the enc
my's forces! ~
Answer ! should have counted upon the eff.
feet Of the battles, which had just taken place
upon the enemy. We had then strong reason
to believe that the enemys losses had been yer.
much heavier than our own, and that portions o
bis army we're very much dcmoralized, especial.
after the battle of Malvern Hill. las,gsr zr