Evansville daily journal., 1864-06-06
Gen. Mcclellan and the President.

With daily pertinacitytfie Copperhaad
journals renew the assertion that the in.
reference Of the President thwarted the
the designs Of Gen. Mcclellan Peninsn-
Ia campaign, that II Mcclellan had been
supported as 0Ianii is he would have sue
ceeded in his attempt To capture Rich
mond The complaint Of unwarraated
and improper interference and Of the
withdrawal of promised support from
Mcclellan is without foundation Cen
eral Mcclellan selected his own plan of
operation. IIe knew what means he
had at his dispesal The President al
lowed him TO attack in bis own way, al
though be deemed the plan bad one,
exacting a condition that he should
protect Washington against any prob
able attack OF TIA enemy. General
Mcclellan agreed 10 this proposal The
council of generals unanimously agreed
that this ought to be done, Bat scarcely
had Mcclellan reached the Peninsula when
he began to ask that the force which
was required to cover Washington should
be sent 20 him, thus violating his own
agreement and repudiatng his own
pledge Notwithstanding the fact that the
unanimous opinion Of the generals had
sanctioned the prudence Of the Presi.
dents demand that Wahshington should
be protected and that Mcclellan had
assented to it, he proposed TO leave it
without adequate defensive forces. The
fault was his own, taking his own state
ment Of the matter, for he projected n
Z design when be had no adequate forces
/ to execute It, and whose emharrassments
prevented the Government from succ5r-
ing him; but when it failed he laid the
blame OF not foreseeing and preventing
the result upon the President-an act
which was as ungrateful as il was despie-
able.
Another view Of the Peninsula cam.
paign must be taken. General Mcclellan
had opportunities to capture Richmond
bnt threw them away. He could have
taken the city with the forces be had il
he had used them with energy and skill
\ General Heintzelman testified before
4 the Com u1ittee on the Conduct of tbs
War as follows:
awe could have isolated Yorktown 81
that it would have fallen in a few days
and there would have been no serious
obstacle to the advance on Richmond, 81
far as knew. The delay of month al
Yorktown was q serious injury to as
When General keyes was mustereS
out Of the service, it was asserted b
Mcclellan journals that it was done be
cause he was the friend of General Nc
Il CleIiau: twas an act inspired by the al
legged jealousy Of the Administration.
General Keyes, "the friend of Genera
Mcclellan, testified before the Com
mittee as follows:
Question-To what cause do you al
tribute the failure of the Peninsula cam
7 paign9 H8
! Answer-After Yorktown was cvaeus
ted lido not think the army pressed Tor
ward upon the enemy with sufficient Wig
or. After the battle at Williamsburg, B
: q more vigorous pursuit we might hav
oseftaken the enemy before he had tim
s 10 fortify Richmond and receive reir
: forcements. After the battle of Seve
Pines there was another time when
: think if the army had pressed on affe
the enemy We could have gone to Rlct
|, mond, and in connection With this las
. am compelled to state that ] thin
!. General Mcclellan does not excel
. that quality of q general which enable
hin 10 know when 20 spring.
General Sumner names another il
stance where the same opportunity /,
. success was offered but throwa ava
81 He testified as follows:
~ Question When the enemy had T
- treated after the battle of Fair Oak
what military reason was there for n
immediatly following them mp to Ric
mond7
(. Answer-I know of none do belize
thatifthe General had crossed the Chic
ahOminy with the residue Of the arm
= and made a general attack with b
y whole force We could have carried kIc
mond. When Johnston was knock
from his horse, and taken in litter
Richmond, the rebel army became
> confused mob Had we attacked '