The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-05-30
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From ths Cincinnati Gazette (antsShernan Re-
pubiican) Nay 23.1F 81

the airs OF 0mn1pOGenco. III u nohdu
triumph, the victorious general, attired
in a gold-embroidered robe and Powered
tunic, and bearing in one hand a laurel
Dough, and in the other q scepter, stood
upright in q circular chariot. drawn by
fourhorses, and behind him was station
ed q slave, who, amid the popular accla-
nations, continually remarked to his
nriyate ear that he was but mortal. Some
stories have it that this mentor OF NOR
tality emphasized his lesson by Kissing
n the generals ear all sorts Of fonl and
contemptuous names. The sagacious
reader will begin to perceive why we
have headed this article General Halleck,
and will recognize the aptness Of this
classical smile to the position which he
has held toward the generals OF the war;
The public have been troubled 70 ma
out what that generals Office was. They
will now respect it as the p~erpetuatlon
Of a military functionary established by
the most martial people in the world
There is, however, more versatility III q
method of the American repressor OF the
bride of victors. His discipline is more
radical. Instead of trusting to the vain
effort to repress the result after the cause
has happened, he seeks to prevent the
cause. If there is no victory, the proven
ton of arrogant pride in the victor will
be easy. And again u memento morS
comes out strongest on generals in the
hour of misfortune, or executive or pop
Mar disfavor. He then seeks to enforce
the lesson of mortality by giving the
coup de qrace to their regulations and
commands. However much people may
object to some of the terms of General
Sherman's arrangement with Johnston,
we think none WiH deny that General
HallecL's dispatches and orders concern
ina the arn,istice auere uncated for and
coarse. No one believes that Gener-
al Halleck has any feeling that could
be disturbed by the features OF the
arrangement that the people object
ed to. He had not this excuse for his
heat. But he sprang with alacrity to
his official duty of executioner OF Gen
erals, in order to prevent pride, by re-
minding them that they are mortal
We cannot now recall to mind any Cen
eral of prominence in the war, whether
successful OF unsuccessful, who has not
been subjected to the ordeal of this Off
cial ~reviler, and as we have never heard
of any other duties attached to his office,
we conclude that he devOtes his time to
this. His experience in the field before
he was called to this Office, was calcula-
ted to sharpen his zeal by a feeling OF ami.
mostly toward any General who surpassed
the famous progress in the siege of Cor
NTH And as we have had no other Gen.
| erals who could make such an elaborate
| siege against an open field, nor who with
| treble the force could intrench so hero
| ically against a beaten and defeated en-
| emy, they have necessarily come under
his official discipline in uninterrupted
| succession. Of all the wonderful cam
paigns of this war, that against Corinth
was the most extraordinary. BuelPs
Army of the Ohio, coming up in time to
save our forces at Pittsburg Landing
from humiliation, had next morning ia
ken the offensive, defeated Beauregard,
and driven him to a rapid retreat. But
at. that time, when, according to all the
have been followed up and the enemy
annihilated, the operations passed under
the immediate direction of Gen. Halleck,
and with a heavy concentration of forces,
he began siege approaches against Cor,
NTH, twenty miles distant. All the
available troops in the West were en-.
gagged in the undertaking. All other OPP
erations were abandoned for it. 1t went
forward at the rate of half a mile a
day. When it approached Corinth, the
enemy evacuated at his leisure. Then
Munchausen dispatches of demoraliza.
ton of the enemy, and of captures OF
prisoners and guns, tried to save the af'
fair from ridicule. And then the general
who had used these fables to make a vic.
tory charged their invention upon 9th
ers. Ever after he was the enemy OF
Buell., who, in spite of Halleck's neg.
lect, had brought his army to the river
in time to save the day, and had turned
our disaster to the defeat of the enemy.
The capture of Corinth exhausted his
genius, and his great army became an
army of occupation. At Washington his
first performance was to do what no 9th.
er man could-make Mcclellan respecta.
BILE, even in his palpable treachery. He
thrust Pope forward to the Rappahan-
mock with less than forty thousand Ten
to hold that line against Lees whole
army, while he was transferring McClel-
lan's troops to join him; and kept him
there in spite of Pope's repeated advices
| that the enemy was marching around
him, while he scattered McClellan's fore
es from fredericksburg to Alexandria,
depriving Mcclellan Of command, and
leaving Pope to be overwhelmed, Havi
ing plunged everything into inextricable
disaster, he sacrificed Pope, and in utter
helplessness besought Mcclellan to take
command and save the capitol. AS soon
as he had recovered from that fright, he
renewed his operations for McClellan's
downfall. By resisting McClellan's re-
quest to have the Harper's Ferry garri-
son transferred to him, he made himself
responsible for the loss of that and
then be tried to fasten it on Mcclellan
and on the commander of the post.
Next year he repeated the same tactics
with Hooker, and the same result was
avoided by Hooker's resigning the com
mand. When Meade took command, he
insisted that the garrison should be
transferred to him, and then it was done.
He kept Milroy at Winchester, an indie
fensible place, to be enveloped by a
great rebel army, and then he organized
q court martial to transfer the blame of
his fault to Milroy. When Burnside
succeeded Mcclellan, and marched to
fredericksburg, the absence of the pom
ICONS on which his crossing depended,
and which were to have been forwarded
through Washington, and the disclaimer
of Gen. Halleck of having anv concern