Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1864-01-27
The President and Gen. Mcclellan.

printed by Congress, and is said to be
one of the most extraordinary mill
tary reports ever made, making more
than thousand pages. Instead OF
giving a clear and concise report OF
his operations, it is mixed up with all
kinds of letters and opinions not OF
what uos done, but what he thought
ought to have been done so that hc
could have succeeded in taking Rich
mond But from all this mass Of YER
biage the following facts leak out
1st. that Gen. Mcclellan had the larg-
est, best equipped, and most enthusi-
astic army ever put into the field in
this country. I'd. That on every oc-
casion where he claimed to be success.
ful he failed to follow up his advanta-
ges. Sd. That by delay, he was
every day weakening his gallant
army by sickness in the Virginia
swamps, while the rebels were every
day becoming stronger. Our noble
President, though no military man, as
early as April foresaw the catastrophe,
and had Gen. Mcclellan followed his
advice, what reader can doubt the re-
suit. Here is the lctter-look at the
date, read and reflect on it
WASHINGTON, April 9, 1862.
Major General Nc Cleilan.
My DEAR SIR: Your dispatches com
planning that you are not properly sustained,
while they do not offend me, do pain me
very much. Benkcr's division was with
drawn from you before you left here. and
you know the purpose under which | did it.
and, as | thought, acquiesced in it-ceTtainly,
not without reluctance. After you left, I as
certa3led that tess than tscenty thousand amor.
ganized men, acittOW single fe}d'6aiterg,
acere all yoa assigned to be lef tor he defcnce
Of Washington and Manassas Junction. aud
part Of this even was to 90 to General Hook
er's position. General Banks corps, once
designed for Manassas Junction, was divert
ed; and having taken trip up on the line
Of Winchester and Strasburg, | could not
have 1t without again exposing the Upper
Potomac and the Baltimore and Ohio Rail
road. This presented tor would present,
when Mcdowell and Sumner should be none)
great temptation to the enemy to turn back
from the Rappahannock and sack Washing
ton. -Iy explicit order that Washiagtosy
ShOu1d By tie Judgment Of all the com
m0nderS Of army corps, be left entirely Sc
cltre had been neglected. 1t was precisely
this that drove me to detain Mcdowell
| do not forget that / was satisfied with
your arrangement to leave Banks at Manas
ses Junction; but when that arrangement
was broken up, and nothing was substituted
for 1t, OF course | was constrained to subStit
tute netting for it myself. and allow me
to ask: Do you really think should per-
NIT the line from Richmond, via Manassas
junction, to be entirely open. except what
resistance could be prevented by less than
twenty thousand unorgapized troops? This
Is a question which the country will not
allow me tG evade.
There is curious mystery about the alil1'
Der OF the troops now with you. " hen |
telegraphed to you on the 6th, saying You
had over hundred thousand with YOU. had
just obtained from the Secretary of War a
statement taken, as he said from your own
returns, making l0S000 then with YOU, and
en- route to you. You now say you W Il have
$4,000 when all en- route to you shall have
reached you. How can the discrepancy of
%, 900 be accounted for?
As for General Wool's command, Iuuder-
stand it is doing for you precisely what a
like number Of your own would have to do,
If that command was away.
| suppose the whole force which has gone
forward Tor you, is with you by this time.
and II so, | think it is the precise time for
you to strike blow, By delay tie enemy
a0tH relatively gam upon yo4 that is, he ,oiU
gam faster By .tortifcati0Rs aud reinforce.
@e'ts, than yoa can by rein torcemeats alone.
And once more let me tell you, it is indis-
pensbie to you that you strike blow. 4
am powerless to help this. You will do me
the justice to remember that always insisted
that going down the Bay in search of field.
instead Of fighting at or near Manassas was
only shifting, and not surmounting a diff.
Guilty; that we would find the same enemy
and the same or equal entrenchments, at
either place. The country aciH not tizH to
note, IS no'0 noting, that the present Hesitation
10 more upon an entrencbed enemy is bit tie
story Of Manassas repeated.
beg to assure you that I have never
written you, or spoken to you, in greater
kindness OF feeling than now, nor with a
fuiIer purpose to sustain you, so far as in nv
most anxious Judgment | consistently can.
But you must act.
Yours, very truly. A. LINCOLN.
Those who will carry back their
memories to April, 1862, will acknowI-
edge that without knowing a word of
President Lincoln having written this
letter, the public mind was thoroughly
imbued with the conviction that what
he pointed out ought to have been
done Why it was not, has never vet
been satisfactorily explained.
Our Congressman-His Record.
Last week Mr. Smith of Knn4,nl