The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1865-09-07

Porter they made a great noiseA as is usu-
al in such cases. They were successful;
4or Mcclellan watched them with the
largest part of his army That he did so
watch them is evident from his own .re-
port, and that the force in front of. Rich
mond was inconsiderable is evident from
Lees report, as well as from every fact in
tho history offhe event. Mcclellan re-
ports b@ttle on that side, and Lee does
not even mention it. There, then, was
McCIellan's humiliating blunder AS he
acknowledges, It was possible torhim to
concentrate his force on either side of the
Chickahominy. On either side. he would
have the preponderanqe cfnumbers. The
inducement to concentrate on the north
side was the chance to destroy Lee'sa army
by magnificent battle The inducement
to concehtrats on the south side was the
chance to capture Richmond, almost with
out battle. On the north side he would
have had one hundred to sevepty-enough
to watch tie river rand whip the seventy
On the south side fis would have had one
hundred to thirty-the seventy on the
other side could not have touched him
and Richmond would have been the prize.
Hc even claims that by concentration on
the north side he. acourd have beaten the
enemy there" He decided not to strike
for Richmond, and for All unheroic reason:
he might fail he continued his retreat.
That offered 70 chance for failure.
But Lee blundorcd very greatly also
The bunders of the two go together, and
either, in. the hands of a great perceptiye
soldier, would have been annihilated. On
the 10th of June Mcclellan, as he tells us,
had his preparations made for onset n
gainst the cnemy's capital. His roads
and bridges were built, his lines formed,
his supplies up, his troops in hand-au
was ready. and the dogs of war were held
in the leash, ready and painting to go.
There was only one fact ho feared, and
that was Che snenJ's ndmbsrs-the inn
mstse power with which they held the
place. He was to move on goth, and Oh
that very day Leei as il in league with
Mcclellan, moved out of Richmond with
all the troops With which he held it, ex-
cept about twenty-five thousand.
There WIS Ri6hm1iond defended BY ohhly
tkaSt Humber, and here were a hundred
thousand ready to mcts against it. Tee
made haste to put river between Rich
mond and the rest ofhis force! He. took
away his hcroes-Longstroet and Hill
and carried them to join Jackson. Drunk
en- Magruder md impotent Huger were
the only ones in Richmond, and they had
only two divisions. Lee did all this, even
by his own showing. 1t was the most
complete division Of forces ever seen. He
kept his forces thus divided for three days
the 26th, 9th and 2Sth of June. On
one of these days Lee and his army were
alone on the north side Of the Chickahom-
iny. The bridges" says Lee, "woro de-
stroyedj their reconstruction impractical
blc." That is, McClcllan's hundred thou
sand were on the same side of the river
with Richmond, and only Magrudcr and
Huger stood between. Tcc; with seventy
thousand, was on the other side the river,
and couldn't get across; he was oct of the
fight. This lasted all day, and Mcclellan
employed that day iE securing his retreat.
One hour ofShcridan on that 2Sth of June
would have given us Richmond, and Lee
would meyer have been heard Of again as
general. He must have died with
shame.
But the discrepancy between the state-
ments of facts in these two reports is not
greater than their difference of tone. Nc
Clellan's exhibits a strange mental condi-
ton. He never once considers how he
can defeat his cnemy's grand attempt,
but only how he can get away. He is
anxious to put on some one elses should
ers the responsibility of the defeat in bat
ties that have rot Set begun. He has
from the first made up his mind to be
beaten. His messages have tho despon-
dency of "last words" His apprehen-
sions.have doubled. the size of Lees army,
and that has made him hopeless. His
mind il SO preoccupied with retreat that,
even when he has whipped the enemy
by his own showing and the enemys
showing-he sees no other advantage but