The Portland daily press., 1864-09-13
Interview with q Soldier,

| Last Sunday evening at the exhibition, at
| City Hall, Of those beautiful children who
were once slaves, a lady saw a lame soldier
standing at the door, made room Tor him and
invited him to q seat beside her. There was
no copper In the elements Of her composition,
and like most women, she was not destitute OF
curiosity, and so catechised the soldier, and
| asked him some questions about the story of
| his army life. He was quite communicative
and very patriotic, as our brave army boys
| generally are. He told her many incidents
| that Interested her. She found that he had
| beensunder Mcclellan and had fought at NAL
| vern Hill, and her cusiosity was excited to
know what he thought of the general who
boasted that he would drive the enemy to the
wall.
81 will frankly tell you, madam, what /
think of Little Mac" be said. Eve liked
him In many respects, for he was kind and
pleasant, and was fond of great parades before
we started on the Peninsula campaign. And
the boys liked such parades and were as
proud to make good military show as Nc
Cietian was, but we afterwards found to our
sorrow tina, there was a wide difference be-
tween show-parade and real battle on the
field. And the General found 1t so too"
But" replied the lady, "didn't Little Mac
as you call him, fight brsvely?r
The soldier smiled and answered: "He
didn't fight at all, for he was some five miles
away on gunboat, where rebel shots couldn't
hit him. After we learned the fact, we began
to think he was little afraid of being shot,
"He showed some prudence said the lady.
81 should rather die any death than be killed
by a rebel bullet"
"True," replied the soldier, "but we must
run that risk, il we wish to put down this re-
bellion and punish traitors. / have been
wounded by rebel bullet, but, thank God.
not killed; and am willing to take the field
again as soon as am well enough. The truth
is, madam, we might have taken Richmond,
and all our soldiers and most of our officers
were anxious to enter that city, but Mcclellan
hung back, and why, God only knows
This soldier is very intelligent, and seems to
understanding recent movements in the po-
litical world. He says, and we believe truly,
that the first great bunder that Mcclellan
made was in going into winter-quarters at
Manassas, when he had force enough TO over
whelm Lee and his army at any moment, but
he didn't do it, and why, Heaven only knows.
This soldier says too, that another great
blunder Little Mac committed was stopping
and digging before Yorktown when he might
have advanced aad defeated the rebels and
marched into Richmond. The soldiers and
most Of the officers, he says, were Of the same
opinion, and anxious to press forward and
crush the rebel army, which they might have
done at that time. Aud If Grant had COM
msnded The army then he would have perse-
vered and taken Richmond beyond question.
The army was in fine condition and eager for
the fight, but the military science of Nc
Clellan induced him to stop, dig trenches and
make regular sieges, no matter what the cir
substances were, or how the enemy were sit
uated. A regular siege was according to the
books, and Little Mac followed the letter of
such authorities, and hence some OF the great
est blunders during his campaigns.