, 1865-07-20
Lee and McClel1au.
From the New Yosk Herald, Jnty 18th.

Such Is the record. 1t Is obvious that til,
important battle was the ene at Gaines Mill
All that went before was preliminary t. that
and what followed Tns TIE Necessary copse
queuce OF tic loss Of it. Mcclellan having
lest the battle, was compelled to reltnQuish
disposition and get q new base. Had he wou
that batt1e, he would not only have held hif
position, but be Wonld have destroyed the
io;ce with winch Lee fought 1t. That It was
within his power 10 win teat battle. to make
that day decisive against the enemy, and to
turn their apparent victory into positive dis.
nster, Is obvious both fiom the report o1
Mcclellan and 1he report OF Lee Mcclellan
tells Us very clearly the reason why be lost
the battle. 1t was because he opposed 10 the
10000 men under Lee only half that number,
Lee tells us that in that battle he moved his
whole line against our poEttin comprising
the commands Of 1onEstreet, Jackson and
the two Hills. Mcclellan estimated that
force at 70. 600, and that must have been very
nearly hight. Mcclellan assu1cs Us that
Porter Only had s. goo, and b. wrote to thu
Pr sfdent the next day that - few thousand
more meu would hsve changed this battle
nom defeat to a victory"
With "a few thousand more uen" he
could have turned the tide of thst import.
ant battle, and yet he had on the o:her side
of The ChIckahomlny, hardly half days
march away. G0,o00 men. Why was that
LEFT at Barker's farm to listen to the fire and
stand asill Why were the divisions ol
sedgwiek, Richardson and Couch not put
into it: Sumner, HelntzelmAu, keyes and
Franklin were all on that day ut to fight for
the gtanaest empire under the sun, and the
coIra Of any ore Of these would have changed
the Neult. But these tronps were not u.ed
victim Of q delnsion. He WAS utterly aud
shaIntfully fooled BY the maneuvTcs Of Gen.
Lee. He had made up his mind TINT Lee
had 200, 600 men that 7O, 600 We pounding
Porter, and that the other l30, COO were at
Rcbmt nd ready 10 pouncc down and gobble
up Sumner, Helotze.man and the rest. And
the proof thu. they were not there Is found
large force existed oD1y in 3lcCle1lan's i'm
ogiEatlon and on the pages Of his "seefe
service" report.
Lees main force was ia front Of Porter,
and force Of twenty-five or thirty thousand
held the Richmond lines and in order to
prevent Mcclellan from reinforcing Porter
they made great noise, as is ususl In such
watched them with the largest part Of his
hrmy. That he did so watch them is evident
from his Own report, and that the force in
font Of Richmond was inconside:able Is evil
dent from Lees report, as we'll as from every
fact in the history of tic event. Mcclellan
reports q battle On that side, and Lee does
not even mention It. There, then, was Nc
knowledgrs, It Was possible for him to con-
centiate his force on either side OF the Chick
ahominr. On either side be would have The
prepondernnce oinumbers. The inducement
to concentrate on the north side was the
chance to destroy Lees army BY magnificent
battle. The inducement to concentrate on
the south side was the chance to capture
Richmond almost WITHOUT battle. On he
north eide he would have had one hundred to
eeFenty-enouch 10 watch the river and
whip Ae seventy. On the south side he
Wonld huIe had one hundred to thlsty-the
seventy on the other side could not have
touched hlm-and Richmond would have
centrat{on on the north side he "coud d have
beaten the enemy there" He could have
done efther-he did neither. He decided not
to strike for Richmond, and for an uuherolc
reason: he might fall; 60 be CONTINUED to
retreat. That offered no chance for failure,
But Lee blundered very greatly also. The
blundeIs OF the two go together, and either,
would hare been annihflated. On the Is b Of
June Mcclellan, as he tells us, bad his pre-
parattons made for an onset against the enc
my's capital. His roads aud bridges were
built, his lines formed, his supplies up, bis
troops In hand-All was ready, aud the dogs
Of war were held In the leash, ready and
painting to 70. There was only one fact to
be feared, and that was the enemy's numbers
the Immense power with which they held
the place. He was to move on the 28th, and
On that very day Lee, as If In league with
moved ont Of Richmond all the
troops with which he held 1t, except about
o5. 900.
There was Richmond defended by onty that
number, and here were hundred thousand
ready to move agafnst it. Lee made haste to
put river between Richmond and the rest
Of his force. He took away his herpes
Longstreet and Unl-and carried them to
Join Jackson. Drunken Magruder and impo-
lent Auser were the only ones In Richmond,
ind they had only two divisions. Lee did ali
Ibis even By his own showing. 1t was the
most complete division Of forces ever seen.
8e kent lis forces thus divided for three
o8th' 9Th and 28th Of June. On
me of these days Lee ard his army were
llone on the north side Of the ChickahominY,
The bridges" says Lee. "were destroyed,
Lhcir reconstruction impraclfcable." That
Is, McClellan's hundred thousand were on
he same side Of the river with Richmond,
ind cn1y Mag1uder and Huger stood hetween.
Lee, with seventy thousand. was on the other !
,ide of the river. and couldn't ret across he
Fas out of the fight. This lasted all day,
md Mcclellan employed that day in securing |
lts retreat One hour Of Sheridan, on that |
18th OF June would have given ne Richmond, |
ind Lee would never have been heard oI |
'gain as a general. BE must have died with !
h1me.
But tho d!scre Fancy between the state |