The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1864-02-13
GEN, M'CLELLAM'S REPORT,
A Sueeinct and Consecutive Sumsoary of
the Entire Document, e
From the New York World. !.

! pdiSu IOr which tho 2Onlnl3tr4tI4D bAl
endeavorsd to make him responsible e
history ana the country. When ~ "a,
that this story proves, beyond canil ol
contradiction, that for the campGRn o,
! 1862 Gen: Mcclellan is in truth respensi.
bic only SO far as concerns The ssl1atior
OF an army Imperiled by the reck leee and
ignorant strategy Of a knot Of sel6shpoli.
tlclans, we say that the most passt1nat<
and prejudiced reader Of these clea& and
| and quiet and manly pages will f6d il
hard to gainsay, at least in the sec53k, 81
his own brain and heart The WH6a<
story, it will be remembered, too, is not
told, cannot possibly bs told, by . com.
missiened General of the army writing to
the head of the Department of War, tha,
head being the very man whose hand ha.
been weighing for evil upon him and upon
! his gallant troops for SO many weary and
worse than wasted months. OF what still
remains to be made known We shall here
and now say nothing We shall even re-
train from commenting upon the nara
! tive which has been made public, and con,
fine ourselves to the simple duty of stating
in brief svnoptical !orR, what it is tina.
Gen. Mcclellan tells US of the annals OF
this mighty war.
w
that il en- braces the b story Of nearly six
teen months, crowded with grea: events.
is singularly brief and condensed 1t
takes up the story Of his connection with
the army at his arrival IN Washington
after the first disaster Of Bull Run, and
passes on Though the whole periou of In @
organization or the Army Of the Potomac
through the preparations made in the
winter of lS6l-G2 for the INVASION ef Nir-
ginia; through the movement against
Richmond, by the way Of Yorktown and
the Peninsula: through the Esrcely con-
tested battles OF the seven days; and
through the short but splendid campaign
in Maryland, down 10 the surrender by
the General who had formed and deyel.
oped and disciplined, and saved the finest
army IN tho republic, o! his baton OF com
nand on = wild November night in the
camp at Warrenton. in Virginia
The report is dated at New York Au-
gust 1. 1868, and is addressed to Brig Gen
Thomas, Aolutaut General OF the United
States Army 1t Is accom- panied by the
reports 81 corps, division and subordinate
commanders, and by many illustrative
documents, such as maps charts and the
like
Passing briefly over hi. brilliant cam
paIgu IN Western Virginia with the state
inent that he was preparing for a campaign
in the Upper kanawba Valley when he
learned at Beverly OF the di.asier of Bull
Run, Geu. Mcclellan observes that be- had
received 10 notification of the movements
OF the eastern army, and was not, there
fore. prepared Ia cooperate with il. Late
on Sunday, the fatal 2ls; of July. An order
came TO him from Washington directing
hiss TO move into Eastern Virginia, with-
out, however, informing him Of the vital
fact that sea. Patterson had been unable
10 preyeat tbe Junction OF johnston with
Beaareeard sIIe- was prepssisg 20 obey
this blind aud tardy order, when on the
ODD came another requiring him to turE
over his command 10 Gen. Rosecrans, and
10 repair iu person 10 Washington.
Leaving specific directions as 70 the for
.ification ei the most important points
then held ~ Us in Western Virginia, ten.
McCieian on the 23d Sc, out for the
capital. and on tho 21,h assumed COM
R:and Of the Diyisos Of the Potomac
H. found this army, tc which was as
si.aed the double duty OF protecting z
Washington and of threatening Richmond.
neither capable OF threatening others nor
protecting itself The extent OF the re-
sources OF the South for resistance had
been mos, imperfectly appreciated, and it
was necessary At once to a arm ana 10
encourage the official mind
CEN. MCCLELLAN SCHEME OF CAMPAIGN ~
AUGUST, 1851.
On the 4th Of August, 1861, the new Gen
cral lald before the President his sche me
OF the war.
In this scheme it was laid down that
our best, il not our only hope, Of speedy
and lasting peace lay IN convincing the
.di.loyaj populations at the outset of hos
tilitIes that resistance TO the government
must prove impracticable.
1t Was pointed out that our reverses a,
/ Bull Run had made THIS task at once
more imperative and more difficult, since
they had emboldened our enemy and
inj red our own prestige both at home
and abroad
Virginia having been made the battle
field 1t became necessary to fight there
/ but, in order to succeed in the cam
+! paign against Virginia, Gen. Mcclellan
| pointed out the necessity of opening the
| Mississippi, OF pacifying Missouri, and Of
/ cdcancing through heatuchy INTO Easter,
! Tennessee for the purpose at oacs of assist
ing the Union men Of that region and ol
seizlng the railways leading from the Mis-
! .iss.ppi to the East
The Importance of avaiiing ourselves as
| far as possible in every case of water
transportation was strongly urged as well
! as of naval diversions against the leading
| cities of the southern coast. The impor-
| tance Of the points wa. shown to be much
enhanced by the existence of the great
railway system OF the South, which would
| enshle the enomy to concentrate rapidly
upon interior lines; and the Inference was
drawn that the operations of the nlaiH
army ought to be strictly connected with
all subsidiary operations whenever under
taken.
One of the subsidiary operations through
Nebraska and Kansas into Western Texas
! in connection with a movement to the
SAME end from the Pacific through Ari
zona and New Mexico, was especially de-
signateo for its Importance ia y political
as well as in military sense, and it was
suggested with far reaching sagaeity that
an intimate alliance with Mexico might he
effected which would mater ally facilitate
| the results of such combined movement
70 effect these grand objects Gen. Nc
Clellan estimated would require an army
of 800, 900 men, to be thus distributed:
Main army. .2i3,OW
Defense Of fWashinston....... ..... 10000
Western advance Key being loyal. 20,OOC
Line of Potomac. -. ...... 10000
Baltimore and Fort Monroe. ..... 5000
Total. 33l ,o0C
With this force, acting under the control
of policy strictly protective of private
property and merciful to private soldiers
taken III arms, Cen. Mcclellan was of the
opinion that the organized strength OF
the rebellion might be overwhelmed. and
the populations of the South compelled to
recognize the iutility and folly of persist
ing in An attempt to resist a government
which designed simply to hola them to
rosnaet It's aun constitutional Limitations