The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-05-08

1t was also HOOkerS opinion, on tie llM
Of March, 1868, that the fight at Will
iamsburg "was the hardest fight that has
been made this war" In that fight, he
says, we lost 100 men. Before this tes-
tilcony was given, there had been quite a
number of severe fights at the West, be-
sides all our desperate contests before
Richmond, and the battle OF Antietam.-
We suppose all these opinions are equally
sound. SCI.
There is apother part OF Gen. Hooker 3
testimony worthy OF notice. He evident
ly means to convey the idea that General
Mcclellan was not present during the bat
tie of Malvern Hill. This was unworthy
of a soldier. Hear him. 20. Where
was the general-in-chief during the battle
of Malvern? A. l understood he was on
board the gunboats. @ Did you see any
thing of him OH the ground that day? A.
/ saw him once" Now hear the truth
from another witness, General Hunt
@. Were you at the battle of Malvern
Hill? A. Yes, sir, commanding the re-
serve of the army there. @ That was a
pretty severe battle? A. Yes, sir, hard
fought battle @. Did the general COM
manding that army take the active COM
mand of that battle? A. The general-in-
chief, for the most art of that day, was
at the central position he had indicated as
his headquarters-at Haxall In the af-
ternoon he came up on the plateau and
rode along the lines among the troops,
and was up there for some time. He
passed the position where was. TO the
best of my knowledge he directed the gen.
eral movements of the battle. l did not
see him except when he came on the field
l was not at his headquarters at all. In
the morning l went with the then chief of
Typographical engineers, now Gen. Hum
phreys, and we were joined by the chief
engineer, Gen. Barnard, in obedience to the
instructions ofMcClellan, as l was informed
by General Humphreys, to select positions
on the field, according to its formations,
as indicated, l believe, by Gen. McClellan's
map. We had got nearly around the
field, and had indicated the different po-
sitions, selecting those for the artillery,
when l perceived party coming after us,
and recognized General Mcclellan among
thSm. He followed and rectitied the line
of battle-in some places changing it
and went away, at least disappeared from
my sight, after he had got around for
about two thirds of the line occupied by
the army. This l suppose was about or
10 O'Clock @. Was this before the battle
commenced? a. That was in the morn
ing before the battle commenced. know
that &c went over that much of the line,
examining every position which he had in
dicated, changing where he thought prop
er, And understood that he completed
the entire circuit before taking up his po-
sition at Haxall, which he had selected as
his headquarters
Thus much for Geu Hooker's opinion
of Gen. Mcclellan No quotations have
been made from the testimony of General
Mcclellan
That Mcclellan directed The plan of
Malvern and that Porter fought it gal
lantly are two facts which the army know
perfectly well, anl which the country
will know some day, if they do not now.
of the dead, go over the battlefield to
steal the regulations of the brave. They
disgrace their country and humanity.
M'CLELLAN'S PLANS AND CAM
E'.A8GNS.
His Testimony ssefore the War Conn
iAiCsee.
The dissemination broadcast over the
country of the malicious and pettifogging
report of the Committee for Investigating
the Conduct OF the War, with garbled ex-
tracts from the testimony, six or eight
weeks before the publication of the testi-
mony in full without distortion or garb-
ling, was trick well calculated to induce
that prejudging of the case which would
cause the testimony itself to be read Git at
alD with jaundiced eyes. The trick was
intended TO operate 10 the prejudices of
General Mcclellan in various ways. In
the first place, it tended to blunt curiosity,
and prevent the public from reading the
great mass of the testimony, of which they
might suppose they had got very good
general idea from the elaborate and
lengthy report Of the committee Most
people who had waded through that would
feel little inclination after an interval of two
months to read formidable of testimony,
unless they had strong reasons for mis-
trusting the fairness of the report. In the
next place, few people have either the
leisure or the skill in sitting or collating a
voluminous body oftestimony which would
enable them to reach just conclusions
when great multitude OF particulars are
to be considered and compared. Mr..
Wade's committee seem to have a good
practicle knowledge of the adage that
falsehoods travels thousand leagues
while truth is putting on its boots; and
they set the report flying over the country
in the hope that the more tardily published
testimony would never be able to over
take it.
Our space permits us to touch only OF
the cardinal points on which the grea