Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-07-22
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! .:lQD9ilo Statesman.
+, PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY
The Ohio Statesman Company,
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FRIDAY MORNING, - July %
THELATE NATIONAL HUMILIATION
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A Review of,the Recent Invasion
Singing Article from the National htelIgencer
WHAT IT COSTS TO DISREGARD GEN. MCLEL
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THELATE NATIONAL HUMILIATION.
A Review of,the Recent Invasit
Singing Article from the National intelligence
ARRANGEMENT OF THE ADMINISTRATION.
LErOm The National lntelligencer.l

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From The National lntelligencer,l
= The Valley of the Shenandoah has more
than once been the valley of our national
humiliation. After more than three years
of gigantic war, our military administra
tion has not learned to apprehend the rela-
tion of this valley to the defense of Wash
ington, and the enemy, safely presuming
on the ignorance and shiftlessness of that
administration, has learned to practice in
this quartera wearisome monOtony ofmove-
ment which only serves to show that he
deems it sale at any time to hope for success
by counting on our official stolidity as a
standing substitute for his poverty OF nven-
ton. 1 ... .
Talleyrand was wont to say that it is al
, ways better to rely on the folly of your an
, tagOnist than on your own sagaclty, and 1t
is certain that the enemy, in the use he pc
riodically makes of the valley of the Shen-
andoah, has shown his own sagacity only
in presuming always on ourotficial want of
that quality in the conduct of the war
Physical geography has ordained that the
occlusion, or at least the vigilant observa-
tion, of this side approach OF the city of
Washington, shall be prime element in
any campaign which starting from Wash
ington, has the city of Richmond for
its objective point. And yet, with want
of foresight which, in the absence OF all
conceivable motive for the willful betrayal
of a grave public trust, confounds the rea-
son of ordinary mortals by its magnitude
and by its inveteracy, our military author
tiles have for four successive summers per-
mitted this valley to be used by the enemy
at his pleasure for the purpose of bringing
confusion on the well laid plans Of all our
Generals operating against Rlchmond.--
Whether it be at one time from falling to
station in this valley capable commanding
officer, or at another from not retaining a
sufficient force under his command; oratstill
another from not occupying tic proper
points of observation todescry the approach
of danger in time to guard against positive
mischief; or whether, at some times. it be
from committing all these blunders ut once;
certain it is that the military administration.
i'm giving the country much sad experience
of inetliciency, has nowhere made that in
efficiency more egregious and deplorable
than in this quarter. lg
The first battle of Bull Run was turned
from victory into disaster by the failure of
General Patterson to prevent the junction
of General Joseph Il. Johnston, trOugh This
rdllel with General Beauregard in the very.
crisis of the conlict-a failure which,
whether resulting from the inc0mpetency
of General Patterson, as some charge, or
from the inadequacy OF his aggressive force,
as others represent, is one of which the re-
sponsibility must equally rest on the central
power which appoints our commanders and
directs the operations of the war.
The campaign of General Mcclellan was
arrested and frustrated by the incursiun
General Jackson into this valley in the lat
ter part of May, 1862 compelling the abrupt
treat of Gener Banks, thrOwingour mil
itary authorities here into most abject
panic. and preventing the contemplated
junction of General Mcdowell with General
Mcclellan by the Fredericksburg railroad
he being diverted from this line Of march
to engage in what he knew to be the impos-
sible chase of Jackson; and Jackson, in the
meantime, after distracting all our combina-
tions, succeeded in hurling his whole col
umn against General McClellan's forces
around Richmond at the very moment when
our military authorities, relying on the re-
ports of General Fremont after the battle
of Cross Keys on the Sth of June, supposed
him still to be detained in the valley by the
threatening presence Of that officer.
Then came the brief campaign of General
Pope, in which, after having his flank rt-
peatedly turned and his communications
with Washington broken by an attack in
his rear, he was badly repulsed, and driven
into the defenses of Washington, while the
enemy, with leisurely composure, turned
from the pursuit of his broken and mis-
handled forces to proceed through this same
valley, and make the formidable irTuption
into Maryland which was repelled by Cen
eral Mcclellan in the battle of Antietam on
the 18th of September, 1862. aI r. gt
We need not pause to describe the dis
graceful events which preceded the occu-
patton Of Winchester by the enemy at this
time, or which attended the surrender of
Harper's Ferry-results all due to the inca
pacity which placed incompetent officers in
important positions; and which, in the case
of Harper's Ferry, was made doubly con-
spicuous on this occasion by the retention
of Colonel Miles at that post, under orders
from General Halleck, after the military
availability of the position was entirely
neutralized by the turn events had taken.
Official incapacity in Washington, thus
combined with military incompetency at
the post, to erect anew at the entrance of
this valley, the caudine forks of an un-
speakable humiliation, which largely mod
iiied the exultation justly produced by the
victory of Antietam, and which, in all gen. |
erous minds, was intensified by the attempt |
to throw on General Mcclellan the resbon- |
sibility for the untoward events which he |
had the sagacity to foresee, but not the
power TO prevent alter his advice in the |
premises had been condemned by the Gen.
eral-in-chief. gl'snh yn'8o'ai 6J 9iaf5q |
And next, in the summer OF 1863 more
than a month after the disaster at Chan
celiofsville under General Hooker, the Com
federate commander proceeded to project
new invasion Of the North, via this same
valley Of the Shenandoah. From a failure
OH the part of our military authorities to
occupy In this quarter the proper points of
observation, and from their failure to place
in the positions actually occupied the req
uisite military talent and skill, the country
was again called to blush at the disgracefiil
of Milroy which preceded the ir-
ruption Of the enemy into Maryland. Win
chester was evacuated with John Gilpin
speed !; and eighteen field pieces, five thou
sand five hundred muskets, and a large
of ammunition were left behind
by the fugitiyes-a valuable gift to the in
vading enemy. "et uNI 9'lrt II
y After such repeated experience of the
military relations held by this valley to the
safety Of Washington and to the success Of
operations against Richmond,
it might have been supposed that military u
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