Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-11-03
Chapter from the History of the War
A STARTLING NARRATIVE
Compiled from McCIellan's Dispatches
''LEAVE POPE TO GET 0UTOF HIS SCRAPE.''
Gen. Mcclellan to the President.

On the 50th day of August, 1852, Gen, Nc
Clellan, having terminated his unfortunate
campaign, left the Virginia Peninsula and
| embarked bis army at Fortress Monroe,
Yorktown and Newport News.
! The entire rebel army was thus free to
| precipitate itself upon Pope's small com
mand. and the bulk of the forces had, in fact
moved upon Pope several days before.
Fully aware of this, and naturally anxious
as to the result, Gen. Halleek telegraphed
Gen Pope on the 2lst of August:
Dispute every inch of ground, and fight like the
devil till reinforce you. Forty eight hours
more and we can make you strong enough. Don {
yield an inch if you can help it.
Pope obeyed his instructions, falling back
and fighting every inch of ground until he
confronted the entire rebel army at Manas-
sas. With what result the country knows.
But what the country does not know is, how
| it happened that the small army at Manassas
| should be allowed to be outnumbered, while
| the large and wen-appointed army OF McClel-
Ian lay, during the three days struggle, with
| in marching distance and almost motionless.
! Gen. Mcclellan prefaced his report Of the
Antietam campaign by stating that
| The troops composing the Army of the Potomac
were meanwhile ordered forward to reinforce the
| army under Gen. Pope So completely was this
| order carried out that on the 90th OF August
! had remaining under my command only a camp
| guard OF about one hundred men. Everything
else had been sent to reinforce Gen. Pope. In ad-
dition, exhausted all the means at my disposal to
forward supplies to that officer my own headquar-
| ter teams even being used for that purpose.
Is this or not one of those specious state
| ments that keeps the word Of promise to the
ear and break 1t to the sense Is it true, or
| is it delusion and a snare -.
Did Gen Mcclellan really send troops and
ratons to Gen. Pope in his sore distress?
Did he send them expecting them to reach
| him ?
Did he desire that they should reach him ?
| Did he or not purposely prevent their
| reaching him?
Now, we shall not answer these vital ques-
| tions with the testimony of Gen. Pope, or of
| any of his army nor yet with the inexora-
| BILE array Of facts and crushing logic Of the
| Committee on the Conduct of the War. We
| propose simply that Gen. Mcclellan himself,
speaking in his official dispatches, shall reply
to them
On the 9th of August, 1862, Gen. Pope,
in compliance with his instructions, after
| fighting the enemy FIVE days on the Upper
| Rappahannock, fell back towards Washing
| ton. Halleck who knew the entire rebel
|
Inducements from the Array of the Potomac.
| Upon their reaching Pope depended the safe
ty of his army, and perhaps that of the Capi-
| tai. No one was more keenly alive than Gen.
| Halleck to the Importance of strengthening
Pope, and, accordingly, on the morning OF
August 9th, 1862, he telegraphed to Gen.
| Mcclellan, through whom alone all reinforce
ments for Pope mnst pass, to have Franklin's
| corps march in the direction Of Manassas as
soon as possible.
The order is clear and definite. If it had
| been obeyed, Jackson's forces, defeated and
driven by Pope on the 9th, would have been
met near Centrevile the next afternoon bv
Franklin, and crushed! Now follow the de-
| velopments Of the next three days, and see
with what fertility of device, prodigaIity of
invention, and GOODNESS of assumption-with
what unyieldinSx tenacity, shameless prevari-
cation, and rank insubordination-Gen. Nc
Clellan carried out his steadfast purpose that
| Pope should not have man of these rein
| forcements-not an ounce of powder, not a
| loaf of bread, and that with his 10000 strug-
| Cling in death-grapple with that same rebel
army that had discOmftted McClellan's 150,-
| 900, he might be left to get out of his scrape.
| This chaste phraseology, we hasten to remark,
is not ours, but that Of Gen Mcclellan, who
| proposed to the President " to leave Pope to
get out of his scrape."
| Plain enough was Halleck's order, yet it
never was executed! Thus it fell out At
| l0:4O Mcclellan replied that he had sent or
ders to Franklin mot to march, butt to pre-
pare to march, and to repair to Alexandria
in person. to inform him as to his means of
transportation. Singular, that in order that
Franklin should march agiM his corps, he
should begin by leaving it Was there no
| Quartermaster to attend to transportation :?
At II NJ, Halleck telegraphed to Mcclellan,
"Franklin's corps should move out by forced
marches, carrying three or four days provis-
| IONS" to which Mcclellan replies that Frank
| lin had gone to Washington, and that his aid
gave the order to the next in rank and later,
that " Franklin's artillery had no horses"
viii it not be well to push Summers corps here
by water as rapidly as possible, to make immediate
arrangements for placing the works in front of
Washington in efficient condition of defense. 1
| have not means of knowing the enemy's force.be-
tween Pope and ourselves. Can Franklin, without
his artillery or cavalry, effect any useful purpose
in front? Should not Burnside at once take steps
to eyacuate Falmouth and Acquia, and at the same
time the retreat of any of Pope's troops who
may fall ba in that direction? L do not that
we have force enough on hand to form connection
with Pope, whose exact position we do not know.
Are safe in the direction of the valley
True to himself and sensible to the last!
Stay in the works-the front is dangerous
place Sitting at the feet of such CANA
lieI, is it strange that Porter learned to say,
as he told Mcdowell, pointing to the enemy:
eve cannot 90 in there without getting into
a fight" And so the 18th of August passed
away, and brought Pope no achievements
THURSDAY, Aug. %, '62.-On the morning
of the 28th, Halleck telegraphed directly to
Franklin:
IN, Will
O'Clock this morning, it was understood that you
were to move with your corps to-day towards Man
assas Jucton to drive the enemy from the railroad.
have just learned that the General has not re-
turned to Alexandria. Ifyou have not received his
order, act on this.
At LOS Mcclellan, not Franklin, answer
ed:
Your dispatch to Franklin received, have been
doing all possible to hurry artillery and cavalry.
The N oment Franklin can be started with reason
able amount of artillery, he shall go. r
Please see Bernard, and be sure the works toward
Chain Bridge are perfectly secure. l look upon
those works, especially Ethan Allen and Marcy, as
of the first importance ...... ... ....- q
Still harping on my daughter "Be sure
the works are perfectly secure !" At $50 P.
NJ, Halleck becomes impatient, and tele-
graphs Mcclellan:
Not q moment must be lost in pushing as large
torce az possible towards Manassas, SO as to COM
municate with Pope before he is reinforced.
The day wears away, and still Franklin does
not move; so at $40 P. NJ, Halleck, more i'm
pationt decided and imperative, tells Nc
Clellan: .=E
There must be 10 further delay in moving Frank
Inns CORPS towards Manassas; they must go t0-pl0T
ron Dlor1ring ready not ready. If delay too
long to get ready, there will be necessity to go
at all for Pope 10iH6 be defeated UtctoriouS agi
out our aid. If there is want of wagons, the men
must carry provisions Win them TIL the wagons can
come to their relief.
To which Mcclellan replies at 10 AM:
vor- disnatch received FrankIin's corps has