Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-12-14
The PEcss IN Rniier

The New York Commercial advertiser
makes the following comments on the mil
itary career of General Butler, which we
commend to tho military critic of the
Cleveland Herald, who defends Buffers
strategy by villifying General Grant:
"General Grants report furnishes addi-
tional proofs of the mistaken, we may al
most say criminal tenderness exhibited by
the Government towards its officers during
the war. Take General Buffers case for
| instance. The Lieutenant General shows
that he disQbeyed at the staff and igno-
miniously failed. Why, then, was he re-
tanned in commando After his terrible
defeat at Drury's Bluff on the 10th OF
May, when the falcon Beauregard
swept down upon the buzzard, this and
other journals, not bound down to the car
of party, earnestly implored the Gov
ernment to remove General Butler
The loss of Plymouth, N c., a few days
previous, together with twenty-five hun
dred men and an immense amount of can
non and war material was clearly due
alone to his bad management, and we felt
that the interests of the country should no
longer be imperiled in his hands Still
he was retained in command, though de-
feat after defeat followed his operations,
and the appeals for his removal became
more frequent and urgent. The authori-
ties appeared to be wholly deaf to the
wishes of the people, and it was not until
nearly year after he had shown his utter
incapacity to command that General But
Ter was relieved. Even then he might
possibly have retained his position had he
not been so outrageously disobedient and
arrogant"
The Erie Dispatch says:
"Geheral Grant knew what he was
writing, and, more than that, the people
believe him. We have alwaye regarded
General Butler as possessing excellent ex-
ecutive powers. But, as a military lender
he failed. 1t is a fact, and one, we believe
he would be as willing to acknowledge as
any man, especially in the Groai- -
and Fort sEiiSSh4ffe fepuJtied'i, in an article
on GrAs.ts vIIfviui rvPUrU, says
s.Tbe main features of interest in this
-orort are its revelations of his own
tnouqhts and plans, and of the estimate ne
,,,t mon others. Thus in regard to But
Ter we see that he proved marplot IN
military matters till endurance ceased to
be virtue, and he was finally relieved at
Grants request. Instead of occupying
CITY Point and moving briskly upon Rich
mond, at the time Meade started from the
Rapidan, Butler wasted time from the 9Th
to the l6th of May, meanwhile writing his
famous dispatch in which he declares that
General Grant will not be troubled with
any further reinforcements to Lee from
Beauregard's force His delay enabled
Beauregard to gather together sufficient
forces to drive Butler off the railroad and
stop his further progress with entrench-
ments."
The New York Herald thus comments
on the powder-boat hero:
at is reported that General Butler has
determined to make an effort to get out
of the bottle in which he has been cOrked
up by General Grant, and that this is to
be done in an exhaustive reply to General
Grants late conclusive report. There
can be no objection to this undertaking
on the part of General Butler; but we
fear that it will be labor in vain, and that
he will continue tightly corked up in his
bottle The simple and established facts
of history are too much for even Massa-
chusetts lawyer; but as General Butler
feels uncomfortable in his bottle let hlm
get out if he can"