Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-09-19
bound to have Siege il ho bod it in a
THE BATTLE OF wILL1AMsT7

bound to have siege if he bad it in a
frog.pond.
THE BATTLE OF wILL1ASIsT7 ..
Well. then came the battle Of illiams.
burg. Mcclellan wasn't there, a. in that
splendidly-organized army" q. re was
such disputinG about seniority and preee-
dence and right to command, aud things
got so mixed, that the battle was almost
lost. So testify Hooker, Sumner and
Kearney. But we won the fight, and, even
without commanneT-i chief We fought
them all day, and whipped them as usual,
for our boys will whip anything in the
world if properly led. Applause,l But
Mcclellan was back al Yorktown, and the
Genersls sent back for him to bring order
out of confusion. General SPrngue came
back for him through mireup to his horses
belly, He found him under shed at
Yorktown-but he didn't want to come
for he was afraid the rain would hurt his
trappings. He said to SPrague-these are
his very words: I should think the
Generals could take care Of a.
little matter like that" At night,
however, Just as the army had won the
day, hegot there. The enemy we're all
in confusion, and Hooker and others testify
on oath that Richmond could have been
taken with vigorous effort, But though
not there in time to win the battle, he did
get thra in tfrneto order halt And
then, while he waited, the enemy began to
concentrate aud lortify RichmOnd, which
had never been half defended before
FAIR OAKS AND SEVEN FINES.
When Mcclellan got to the Chiekahom-
iny he divided his army putting half on
one side the Chickahominy and half on
the other a food came, and the two
wings OF the army were separated The
enemy sssai1ed the half beyond the Ghicka-
hominy and oEerpewered it In spite of
most glorious bravery. BuL the next day
General Sumner without waiting for or
deEs, hurried his men across the Chiclza-
hominy to the assistance of the rest They
G~--5l Tu5 DdrEIe OF Seven Pines and then.
as ever when they have any cn8nc0,
our boys were glorisusly tri-
umpbant. The brave Hooker was
in 'front.' as he always is, and the enemy
were flying confusedly before him like
sheep before dogs. We were within foursI
miles of Richmond. But Mcclellan came
up again just in, time to call halt. Our
officers were swearing and our men ours
ing Hooker begging to make the attack,
and the people of Richmond packing up
to depart. And still we halted and threw
up embankments big euOngh for any rail-
way. ..
And now, with jackson with powerful
force in Western Virginia, Mcclellan
stopped and commenced bowling for more
troops. But if we had given him more.
Washington would have been lest. And
if you hal given him all the armies of the
world, yon couldn'. have whipped him in
to Richmond. GApplause. Voioe-HHe
was good on the retreat No. not so
good en- the retreat either-he retreated
too fast. LApplsuse.1 I make the charge
without fear Of contradiction, that Nc
Clellan, in his whole military career, was
never under fire. Why, he believed in
long-range guns-guns that could carry
seven or eight miles--and he took precious
good care to keep out of their way. The |
young Napoleon never crossed the bridge
Of Lodi Applause
Immediately after the battle of Gaines |
Mills, which, by some inexplicable bIunder, |
was fought by one corps only, In the immedi. |
ate vicinity of three or four Others, Colonel |
Alexander testiias that he visited Nc |
Clellan in his tent, and that the latter was |
so disbeartend by the events of the dsv
that he had orders drawn up directing
every man to destroy all he had, and save |
himself as well as he could. Thus our
gioriously equipped army Of hundred
thousand men was in imminent peril Of
being destroyed by the coWardice of their
So Colonel Alexander testi-
fiea and would believe him against any
Copperhead on earth. 9E
TIE RETREAT.
Then came the attack of the enemy-
Ihey fell upon Us in force, and our scat
tered forces being oTerpoTered, were or
lereq to retreat to the James River Gen
eral Mcclellan was in the advance, that Is,
Of the retreating columns Running away.
he was in front. GLaughter.1 Men new
er fought more brayely in Gods world
-han our lion-hearted soldierv
n tGat retreat. Amid unequalled .nriva-
ions and fortitude, they reached the bank
If the James River There the battle was
o be fought which would decide the fata
II this magnificent army. There q true
General, not coward, would have led on
us soldiers and triumphed with them, or
lied IN his tracks. There, surely, was tho
last ditehD--the 'wall, " to which the enc
ny were to he driven-the James River on
he one'side and the united forces of the
on the other. But Mcclellan 6
ode along the lines Of the army half an 7
our before the battle commenced. and /,
hen withdrew on board a gunboat and hid
imsef And the result is shown in Gem T
raj Summers testimony before the Com t
lfttse on the Conduct OF the War. He c
ays that the command devo1ved on him. 4
nd he suffered terribly from anxiety. be- !
ause, not knowing fully the disposition of u
II forces, be had to select his re-enforce- Il
tents By guess. But judging that the p
ghtlng was hardest on his right, he 81
rev his Fe-enforcements from his left. He
to be right, and the rebels throw u
1wn their arms in terror Hooker and ei
lmneF agreed in testifying that there it
as nothing to prevent our following nm AZ
70 victory and taking Richmond B1t :
-cClelan dispatched courier to them u
ON his gunbOat-not to send them on. at
It to order them back. And like beaten be
my, instead of the victorious heroes 8
hieh they were, they retired to Harrison's =
andlng General Hooker, in his exami-
tion before the Committee on the Conduct a
the War, on being asked, To what do mi
u attribute the failure of the Peninsulsr
mpaignfi responded "To the inca
city Of tho oommander-in-chief7 And
IS man gothic nomination az chicago on
count Of his military proves !. Well, CIT
. coward who hides himselfin gunboat, Es
len his men are in battle, is as good
" TO sue for peace as anybody else.
-. = - - Lgise your patie1ee by
lowing IN detail the rest of his nilitary. lists
ser, = have not time to proru to YOU viii
v ne and Fitz John Porter and FrsnE- ORE
iolLered at Harrisons Landing, when law
Pc was being driven back by the com oel
ed iorees of the South, or how Fts Jobn mol
Ter was condemned BY court marital as tho