Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-01-09
The Report of General Mcclellan.

The Washington correspondent of the
New York Commercial Advertiser has had an
opportunity of perusing the voluminous
report OF Gen. Mcclellan, recently ordered
to be printed by Congress, and furnishes
that paper with an interesting summary of
some portions Of it. This digest, it will be
conceded, is very brief, in view of the fact
that the report embraces nearly eight hun
dred manuscript pages. The writer states
that the document sis full of points Oh
which controversy might be made, and,
whenever time shall be ripe, no doubt will
! be made. )"
! The report is dated New York, August 4.
1863. 1t begins with an allusion to the re-
suit of the victories in Western Virginia,
which, we learn, were not won in connexion
with any general cooperative plan of ac-
tion; and then goes on to recite the ar
rival of Gen. Mcclellan at Washington
after Bull Run; the organization of the
Army of the Potomac; the grand plan laid
out fol- the general campaign of 196l-62; !;
the final invasion of Virginia in 1862; the
Peninsular movement; the seven days' bat
ties; and the short but glorious Maryland
campaign Of September, 1862.
On the lst of November Gen. Mcclellan
was appointed to the chief command of all
the forces of the Union, and at once began
active operations. The theater of war had
now extended about the whole circumfer-
ence of the South, and it became necessary,
as well as practicable, to plan large and
sweeping combination Of military opera
tions.
An organization of New England troops
for occupying the coast line of the South on
the middle Atlantic, which had been sug-
gested by Gen. Mcclellan in September,
1861, took shape in January, 1862, as an ex-
I sgln a ,n1 DO,
facilitate the movements of the main body
in Easter. Virginia by an occupation of the
coast line of North Carolina, Gen. Burn
side being ordered, when he should have
seized Newbern, to occupy and destroy the
Weldon and Wilmington railroad as far
west as Goldsboro, and, should circum-
stances favor, to push as far as Raleigh,
Wilmington being, however, his ultimate
objective point. caution about proclama-
tion" was recommended, the General being
urged ito say as little as possible about
politics or the negro" and to state merely,
''that the true issue for which we were fight
ing is the preservation of the Union and up
holding the laws of the General Govern
ment."
At the same time letters were sent to Gen.
Halleck (appointed to the command of the
Department of Missouri); to Gen. Buell. lin
command of the Department of the Ohio);
to Gen. Sherman Commanding in South
Carolina and Georgia); and to Gen. Butler
commanding the Department of the Gulf.
Gen. Halleck was charged with the duty
of reducing chaos to order" in his depart
ment. In respect to military operations he
was ordered to hold the State by fortified
posts and concentrate his force OH the Mis-
sissippi.
Gen. Buell. was instructed as to the vast
importance of the military occupation of
Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee. In Ken
lucky itself he was advised 'the conduct of
our political affairs is perhaps more import
ant than that of our military operations"
and he was urged to bear in mind that we
shall most readily suppress this rebellion
and restore the authority OF the Govern
ment by religiously respecting the constitu-
tional rights OF all" In accordance ''with
the feelings and opinion of the President"
General Mcclellan requested General Buell.
to assure the ''people of Kentucky that their
domestic institutions will in no manner be
interfered with;" and ito allow nothing but
the dictates of military necessity" to cause
him to depart from the spirit of his instruc-
tions."
In respect to Tennessee, Gen. Buell. was
ordered to throw the mass of his troops "by
rapid marches by Cumberland to Walkers
Gap, on Knoxville, in order to occupy the
railroad at that point" and "cut the COM
munication between Eastern Virginia and
the Mississippi" Gen. Buell. was further
counseled t0avoid widening the breach eX-
isting between us and the rebels" by "cause-
less arrests and prosecutions of individu-
ais" II have always found" says General
Mcclellan, ''that it is the tendency of sub
ordinates to make veXatious arrests on mere
suspicion" yrs ~
Gen. Sherman was advised that the favor
able movement for a coup de main against
Savannah had been lost, and that the best
course before him would be Ito isolate and
reduce Fort Pulaski" But the reduction
of Charleston and its defenses" was held up
as the great moral advantage to be sought
for, and this was stated to be an object for
which Gen. Mcclellan was actually matur-
ing his combination. Gen. Butler was in
structed as to the obstacles to be encounter
ed in reducing New Orleans, and was Or
dered, as soon as possible after the fall of
that city, to ''seize all the approaches lead
ing to it from the east" and particularly
jackson, in Msssissippi," with an ultimate
view as well to the capture of Mobile as to
the opening of the Mississippi.
The Instructions thus issued to the Cen
erals named comprehend the entire scope of
the plans of General Mcclellan, of which
plans the movement of the Army of the
Potomac under his own orders was the
central feature. 1t was considered by him
necessary to the success of these plans that
they should be carried out simultaneously or
as nearly so as possible and the advance Of
the Potomac Army upon Richmond by the
lower Rappahannock was kept in hand by
him, to be delivered as the decisive blow in
conjunction with all the rest of the general
movement.
Passing over Gen. McClellan's full and
elaborate account of the consultations and
operations which preceded the advance to
Manassas, March 0, 1862, we find that this
advance was intended by him merely to oc
cupy the troops during the preparations
for the Peninsula campaign, then fully de-
fcided upon.
Gen. Mcclellan reached the Peninsula
with eighty-tive thousand electives early
in April. He gives his reasons for not as
saulting the works at Yorktown, describes
the battle of Williamsburg with special
praise of Gen. Hancock, and recites the ad-
vance to Richmond. The siege of that city
is narrated at length, and the ''change of
basak with its attendant battles from Me-
chaincsville, fought June 26, to Malvern
Hill, fought July /, 1862. This closed"
says Gen. Mcclellan, ''the hard fighting
which had continued from the afternoon OF
the 26th June, in series of engagements
wholly unparalleled on this continent for
determination and slaughter on both sides.'
| ,JulV 4th the General teleQraphed to the