The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1864-01-15

Remarkable Letter to the President
on the Principles which should
Govern the Conduct OF
the War.
The Campaigns on the Peninsu-
la and in Maryland.
What the General Says of the
Army of the Potomac.

Washington Correspondence of the New York CON-
mercia Advertiser.
The report is dated New York, August
4, 1868. 1t begins with an allusion to the
results of the victories in Western Virginia,
which, We learn, were won not at all in
connection with any general cooperative
plan of action; and then goes on to recite
the arrival of the General at Washington
after Bull Run; the organization of the
Army of the Potomac; the grand plan
laid out for the general campaign of 1861
80; the Peninsular movement; the Sew
en- Days Battles; and the short but glori-
GUS Maryland campaign of September,
1862.
On the lst of November, Gen. McClel-
Ian was appointed to the chief command
of all the forces of the Union, and at once
began active operations. The theatre of
war had now extended about the whole
circumference of the South; and it became
necessary, as well as practicable, to plan
large and sweeping combination of mill
England troops for occupying the coast
line of the South on the middle Atlantic,
which had been selected by Gen. McClel-
Ian, in September, 1861, took shape in
January, 1862, as an expedition under
Gen. Burnside, designed to facilitate the
movements of the main body in Eastern
Virginia by an occupation of the coast line
of North Carolina, Gen. Burnside being
ordered, when he should have seized New
bern, to occupy and destroy the Weldon
and Wilmington Railroad as far west as
GOldsboro', and, should circumstances
favor, to push as far as Raleigh, Whining
ton being, however, his ultimate objective
point. "Caution about proclamations"
was recommended. the General being
urged "to say as little as possible about
politics or the negro,'' and to state merely
that the true issue for which we are
fighting is the preservation of the Union
and upholding the laws of the general
government"
At the same time letters were sent to
Gen. Halleck (appointed to the command
of the Department of Missouri, to Gen.
Buell. Gin command of the Department of
the Ohio, to Gen. Sherman Commanding
in South Carolina and Geogia), and to
Gen. Butler Commanding the Department
of the Gulf Gen. Halleck was charged
with the duty of Producing chaos to order"
in his department. In respect to military
operations he was ordered to hold the
State by fortified posts and concentrate
his forces on the Mississippi. Gen. Buell.
was instructed as to the vast Importance
of the military occupation of Eastern
Kentucky and Tennessee. In Kentucky
itself he was advised, "The conduct of
our political affairs is perhaps more i'm
portant than that of our military opera
tions;" and he was urged to bear in mind
"that we shall most readily suppress this
rebellion and restore the authority of the
government by religiously respecting the
constitutional rights of ALL" In accord
ance with the feelings and opinions OF
the President" Gen. Mcclellan requested
Gen. Buell. to assure "the people of Ken
lucky that their domestic institutions will
in no manner be interfered with;" and
"to allow nothing but the dictates OF
military necessity" to cause him to "de-
part from the spirit of his instructions '
In respect to Tennessee, Gen. Buell. was
ordered to throw the mass of his troops
''by rapid marches by Cumberland OF
Walkers Gap, on Knoxville, in order to
occupy the railroad at that point" and
"cut the communication between Eastern
Virginia and the Mississippi" Gen. Buell.
was further counseled to avoid widening
the breach existing between us and the
rebels" by "causeless arrests and perse-
BUTTONS of individuals" 81 have always
found" adds Gen. Mcclellan, "that it is
the tendency of subordinates to make'vex-
atious arrests on mere suspicion" Gen.
Sherman was advised that the favorable
moment for coup de main against Saw
annah had been lost, and that the best
course before him would be "to isolate
and reduce Fort Pulaski" But the gre.
duction of Charleston and its defences',
was held up as the great moral advantage
to be sought, for which Gen. Mcclellan
was actively maturing his combinations.
Gen. Butler was instructed as to the
New Orleans, and was ordered, as soon as
possible after the fall of that city, to
"seize all the approaches leading to it
from the east" and particularly Jackson,
in Mississippi" with an ultimate view as
we'll to the capture of Mobile as to the
opening of the Mississippi.
The instructions thus issued to the
Generals named comprehend the entire
scope of the plans of Gen. Mcclellan, Of
which plans the movement of the Army OF
the Potomac, under his own orders, wa.
the central feature. 1t was considered by
him necessary to the success of these plans
that they should be carried out simulta'
neously, or as nearly SO as possible, ant
the advance of the Potomac army upor
Richmond by the Lower Rappahannock
was kept in hand by him, to be delivered
as the decisive blow in conjunction will
all the rest of the general movement
Passing over Gen. McClellan's full ant
elaborate account of the consultations an(
operations which preceded the advance tt
Manassas, March 9, 1862, we find that Thu
advance was intended by him merely tt
occupy the troops during the preparations
for the Peninsular campaign, then fully
decided upon. The enemy's force at Man