The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1864-10-14

the council of war had assembled, Mr..
Lincoln said: 81 have slept better than
for two weeks. I feel relieved of an i'm
mense responsibility. / have determined
upon the following programme (which
he sumbitted verbally, and which was SUBJ
stantially as follows:
Il will permit Gen. Mcclellan to carry
out his campaign. He shall leave suffi-
cient force to defend the works before
Washington. He shall embark $4,000
men from Annapolis, and then, nnless the
batteries on the Potomac, which you assure
me will necessarily be abandoned, are with
drawn or silenced, shall reserve my au-
thority to embark other troops" He then
said, 81 have determined to divide Gen.
McClellan's army into four corps, and !
shall appoint the commanders of them u
And afterwards he promoted the four off.
GERS who had opposed Gen. McClellan's
campaign, three of whom he appointed to
the command of corps, and, with the ex-
ception of Generals Franklin and Smith,
who have been the subjects of constant
annoyance and indignities since, the 9TH
ers have all been dismissed from the
| army.
The Peninsular campaign was proposed
by Gen. Mcclellan whilst commander-in-
chief of the armies of the United States,
and was intended to be made with the
forces then under his command in Eastern
Virginia, estimated at over 200, 1000 men.
1t was so accepted by the President, and
the movement was commenced upon that
basis. Gen. Mcclellan had scarcely left
Washington to take the field when the
Secretary of War relieved him of all the
armies not under his (Gen. McClellan's)
immediate command, and assumed COM
mand of them himself. The troops left in
Northeastern Virginia were placed under
the command Of Mcdowell, Banks, Fre-
mont and Sigel, each being independent of
the other and of Gen. Mcclellan, and all
subject to the order of Mr.. Stanton. Whilst
the above division of our army was taking
place, the Confederates concentrated theirs,
until, on the 26th day of June, Mcclellan
was before Richmond with $4,000 men
Gncluding McCall's division), and was at
tackled by the concentrated Confederate
force of 175, 900 at the very moment when
Mcdowell, under protest, withdrew his as
sistance from Mcclellan, by the orders of
the President and Secretary of War.
The campaign under Gen. Grant did not
commence until the 4th of May, 1864
That of Charlottesville, in which the cas-
ualties of that army we're estimated at
$4,000 men, and which, but for the provi-
dental killing of Stonewall Jackson, would
have been annihilated, was planned by the
President and Gen. Hooker, or, to use the
Presidents own words, by "Joe and l."
of which the Secretary of War and Gen.
Halleck were kept profoundly ignorant,
and was not commenced until May 2,1863;
whilst that of the Peninsula, for the delay
of which Mcclellan was so much censured,
was commenced on the 25th of March,
1862, forty days in advance of either of
the others.
Why this bitter enmity and persecution
Of Gen. Mcclellan, why in the beginning
of March was the President pressed to
death to remove him, even before he had
made his first trial in command of the Ar
my of the Potomac? Why Gid distin-
guished member Of the Senate on the 18th
of March, write to me--"The cry against
Mcclellan is increasing; every effort is
being made to crush him. What possible
chance has Mcclellan to succeed, when
his own government did everything in their
power to embarrass his movements, and
break him down? One would think his
task sufficiently onerous, laborious, and
responsible, when, without experience,
after the first disastrous rout at Bull Run,
he reorganized the armies of the United
States and was preparing to fight them,
without the additional conviction being
forced upon him at every step that his
own government wee determined to
"crush him."
Judge, you and l met within ten days
after the dreadful battles before Richmond
You attacked Gen. Mcclellan with bit
terness and feeling that ill-becomes
Chistian gentleman. l then begged you
not to break down Gen. Mcclellan until
you had given him a fair trial, and until
you had found a better man, and chal-
lenged you to name a better general. l
now do the same thing, and appeal to the
record of the past thirty months and to
the rivers of blood that have flown since
to sustain what l then asserted. refer
you to the opinions of foreign officers, and
I assure you that among the old officers
of the army I shall be fully sustained.
The preference of Gen. Mcclellan for
the peninsular campaign and the condem-
nation of the Presidents plan have been
fully sustained. The families and friends
of the 10000 men lost south of the Rapi-
dan since the 4th of May last proclaim it
everywhere. Mr.. Stanton told the coun-
try, at that time, he had hundred thou
sand men more than he wanted, and now
he tells you that he wants hundred thou
sand more men.
General Grant crossed the Rapidan
with an army variously estimated
from one hundred and eighty thous-
and to. 12O, 900
He afterwards added Buffers. ....... 10000
He was reinforced. .................. 5000
Msking, exclusive of Sigels 100000. ZOE, 900
On the LIST of September our forces
were estimated, excluside of Sheri-
dams 10000, at................... $4,000
Gen. Lee had on the Rapidan, after
he had concentrated his army 800. $4,000
Beauregard joined him at Richmond
with his forces from the SOuth