Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-11-05
Chapter from the History of the War
A STARTLING NARRATIVE
Compiled from McClelIan's Dispatches
/ ssLEAVE POPE 10 GET OFT OF HIS SCRAPE.',,.
Gen. Mcclellan 70 the President.

On the 30th day of August, 1907, zen NC
/ Clellan. having terminated his unfortunate
/ campaign, left the Virginia peninsula ana
embarked his army at Fortress Monroe,s
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 tact
moved upon Pope several days before.
Fully aware of this, and naturally anxious
| as to the result, Gen. Halleck telegraphed
/ Gen Pope ON the 21st of August:
/ 'nisnpute every inch of ground and fight like the
devil till we reinforce you. Forty elght noufs
| more and we can make you strong enough pom
| yield inch if you can heiplt
! ! Pope obeyed his Instructions, falling back
| and fighting every inch of ground until he
l-confronted the entire rebel army az 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 well-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
1 we're meanwhile ordered forward to reinforce the
| army under Gen. Pope So completely was this
| order carried out, that on the 3oth of August l
| had remaining under my command only 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 a deluson and snare
i Did Gen. Mcclellan really send troops and
rations to Gen. Pope in his sore distress ?
/ ha sand tharo avnnnfino them tn roach
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 27th 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
army was upon him, had promised heavy re-
Inducements from the Army of the Potomac.
Upon their reaching Pope depended the safe
ty of his army and perhaps that of the Capt.
| tai No one was more keenly alive than Gen.
Halleck to the Importance of strengthening
Pope, and, accordingly, on the morning OF
August 27th, 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 Centreville the next afternoon by
Franklin, and crushed Now follow the de-
velopments of the next three days, and see
with what fertility of device, prodigality of
invention, and GOODNESS of assumption--with
what unyielding tenacity, shameless prevari-
| cation, and rank subordination-Gen Nc
Clelan carried out his steadfast purpose that
Pope should not have a man of these rein
forcements-not an ounce of powder, not a
loaf of bread, and that with his 10000 strug-
Cling in photographic with that same rebel
army that had discomfitted McClellan's $780,
600, 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
1910 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 Oih his corps, he
should begin by leaving it Was there no
Quartermaster to attend to transportation?
At IL NJ, Halieck telegraphed to Mcclellan,
"Frankin's corps should move out by forced
marches, CARRYING three or four days provis-
| MnCioIIau raplias that Franz
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"
Will it not be well to push Summers corps here
by water as rapidly possible, to make immediate
arrangements for placing the works IN front OF
| Washington in an efficient condition of defense.
have not means of knowing the enemy's force be-
tween Pope and ourselves. Can Franklin, without
his artillery cavalry effect any useful purpose
| in 'front.' Should not Burnside at once take steps
to evacuate Falmouth and Acquia, and at the same
time the retreat OF any OF PoPe's troops who
may fall back in that direction 1 do not see that
| we have force enough hand to form a connection
with Pope, whose exact position We do not know.
Are we safe in the direction OF the valleyl
True to himself and sensible to the last !!
STAY in the w0rks-the front is dangerous
place! Sitting at the feet of such CANA
iiel. is it strange that Porter learned to say,
as he told Mcdowell, pointing to the enemy:
1--WE cannot 60 in there without getting into
a fight" And so the 18th of August passed
away. and brought Pope no reinlOrcements.
THURSDAY, Aug. %, '62.-On the morning
of the 2sth, Halleck telegraphed directly to
Franklin:
On parting with General Mcclellan, about two
O'Clock this morning, it was understood that you
were to move with your corps to-day towards Man
assas Juction 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 this"
At 1:05 Mcclellan, not Franklin, answer
ed:
Your dispatch to Franklin received, have been
doing all possible to hurry artillery and cavalry.
The momeat Franklin can be started with a reason
| able amount of artillery, he shall go.
| Please see Bernard, and be sure the works toward
| Chain Bridge are perfectly secure. look upon
those works, especially Ethan Allen and Marcy, as
the first importance.
Still hal ping on my daughter. "Be sure
the works are perfectly secure +" At $3.50 p.
NJ, Halleck becomes impatient, and tele-
graphs Mcclellan:
force as DO ssble towards Manassas, so as to COM
munieate 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:
There must be no further delay in moving Frank
Inns corps towards Manassas; they must go toHor-
ro1v morning, ready or not ready II we delay too
at all for Pope sciH6e defeated or victorious NTH
out our aid. If there is a want OF wagons the men
must carry provisions WITH them till the wagons can
| come to their relief.