Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1863-04-17
The New York Times on the War Com.
mitiee Report and Gen. Mcclellan

The ". Y. Times Of the 9Th inst, contains
the following on the report of the War Com.
mittee concerning Gen. Mcclellan. The
Times has been one Of the Gems best friends,
and it seems that the evidence against him
is such as no longer TO admit Of doubt of
his ..inccnpetency. The evidence against
Little Mac" is now conclusive, and his 10y
nj friends must give him up to go by the
board: f E .. ...
Tho leading topic Of discussion in the
report is the failure Of The Army of the Pc.
tomac to achieve the results which the coun-
try had a right to expect from 1t. TWAS the
largest army ever seen on this continent
composed OF the best possible material, splen-
didly equipped, well disciplined, and compe-
tent, apparently, to accomplish anything
which could reasonably be expected from any
army in the world Why then has il accom-
plished absolutely nothing? We think the
country and the world. in view of the facts
stated IN this report, sustained, as we assume
them to be, by the evidence accompanying
it, must come, however reluctantly, to the
conclusion that the failure of this army has
been due wholly and exclusively to the an
competency Of its commanding General; and
those who do not adopt this explanation,
must fall back upon one infinitely less to his
crcdit--namely, that General Mcclellan did
not think the country was to he served and
the Union saved by crushing the rebel armies,
and that he acted upon this conviction rath-
er than upon his duty and his orders as
military commander. We can see no escape
from one Of these two conclusions. The at
tempts made so steadily and pcrsevcringly
hy his friends to throw the responsibility OF
his failures upon the Government are utterly
futile and absurd. There Is not a single in
stance in which it can be made to appear
even plausible for moment that the Ad-
ministration has withheld from him any sup
port which he needed and could receive, or
that there has been in any quarter, or at any
Tine the slightest disposition to interfere
with any Of his plans which looked toward
avgorous prosecution Of the campaign. On
the contrary, we do not believe history shows
an instance in which commanding officer
in the field has been so earnestly, so cordially
and SO steadily sustained by bis Government,
as was General Mcclellan during the whole
time he was in command Of the Army Of the
Potomac.
1--WE are somewhat surprised to find
throughout Gen. McClelan's correspondence
with the Government. constant evidence OF
a consciousness on his part that he was not
doing what was expected at his hands, and
that lie must shield himself at all hazards
from the responsibility Of failures even be-
fore they had occurred. lie puts forth one
constant, steady call for achievements
wherever he is or whatever he has to do be-
fore victory and after defeat, at every
step on the Peninsula, before he had fought
the enemy in Maryland and after he had
beaten him al Antetam-without any regard,
apparently to the numbers he already had or
to those of the enemy he had to meet. 1t
seems as if he had started with the theory
J that by such course he could clear himself
. of all the blame in any event,-that in case
of defeat he could point to the fact OF his in
cessant calls for more troops as proof OF his
: sagacity, and in case Of success he could
claim the greater credit for having achieved
3 it with an inferior force. This habit reaches
its climax when after the battle Of Antietam
he asked that Washington might be stripped
Of troopS-even il it should be taken in con-
sequence thereof-to reinforce his army, that
he might rortify himself at Harper's Ferry,
and repel the rebels if they should attempt
to cross into Maryland again |"