The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1865-06-14
(rrom the Cincinnati 0asetto, (Rep) Nay 23)
aal1eOk W. 0herRG0. esS

to-ious generals, attired in gold embroi.
dered robe and Toured tunic, and bearing
in one hand laurel lolgh, and in tho
other scepter, stood upright in circular
chariot, drawn by four horses, and behind
him was stationed slave, who, amid the
popular acclamations, continually remarked
to his private ear that he was but mortal
Some stories have it that this mentor of
mortality emphasized his lesson by Kissing
in the generals ear all sorts Of foul and
contemptuous names. The sngacious resd
er will begin to perceive Why We have
headed this article General Halleck, and
will recognize the aptness 0: this classicx.
simile to the position he has held towara
the generals Of the war The public hl5s
been troubled to And out wha. that gene,
rai's Office was. They will now respect il
Us the perpe'uaton of military function.
arY established by the most martial people
IN the world. There is, however, more yer.
satiity in the method of the American re.
pressor Of the pride Of victors His dis.
cipline is mere 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 pre-
venting Of arrogant pride in the victor will
be easy. And again our memcnto naori comes
out strongest on generals in the hour Of
misfortune, or executive or popular disfa.
vor. He then seeks to enforce the lesson
OF mortality by giving the coup de grace to
their regulations and commands. Howe
yer much people may object TO some of the
terms Of General SheTEan's arrangement
with johnson, we think none GM deny that
General Uallecks dispatches and orde,s
concerning the arnaistice acere uncalied for,
discourteous and coarse. No one believes
that General Halleck has any feeling that
could be disturbed by the features u the
arrangement that the people objected to-
lie had not this excuse for his heat But
he sprang with alacrity to bis official duty of
executioner CT generals, in order to picteh.
pride, by reminding them that they are
mortal. We cannot now recall to mind AIS
general Of prominence in The war, whether
successful or unsuccessful, who has not
been subjected to the deal of this oticia.
revler, and as We have never heard of any
other duties attached to his office, we CON.
clude that he devotcs his time to this. lis
experience in the field before he was called
to this office, was calculated to shapen his
zeal by feeling of animosity toward any
general who surpassed his famous progress
in the siege Of Corinth. And as VIC have
had no other generals who could make
such an elaborate siege against an open
field, 'r who with treble the force could
intrench b so heroically against beaten and
retreating enemy, they have necessarily
come under his official discipline in unin-
terrupted succession. Of all the wonderful
campaigns Of this war, that against Corin,h
was the most extraordinary. Buells Army
Of the Ohio, coming up IN time 10 save our
forces at Pittsburg Landing from annihila.
ton, had next morning taken the offensive,
defeated Beauregard, and driven him to
rapid retreat. But at that time, when &C.
cording to all the usages of warfare, the re;
treat should have been fOIlowedsup and the
enemy annihilated, the operations passed
under the immediate direction Of General
Hslleck, and with heavy concentration Of
forces, he began siege approaches against
Corinth, twenty miles distant. All the avail
able troops in the West were engaged irf
this undertaking. All other operations were
abandoned for il. 1t went forward at the
rate OF half mile day. When it approach:
ed Corinth, the enemy evacuated at his
leisure. Then Munchausen dispatches Of
decentralization Of the enemy, and of cap.
tures Of prisoners and guns, tried to save
the affair from ridicule. And then the Cen
eral who had used these fables to make
victory charged Their invention upon others.
Ever after he was the enemy of Buell., who,
III spite of ualleck's neglect had brough.
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
Co,inlh exhausted his genius, and his
great army became an army of occupation.
He thrust Pope forxard to :bc Rappahan.
mock with less than forty thousand men.
to hold that line against Lees whole army,
while he was transferring McClellan's
troops to join him; and kept him there in
'pi.e Of Pope's repeated advces that thu
enemy was marching around him, while
he scattered McCiellans fcrces from Fred
ericksburg to Alexandra, dep,iving McCi.l-
Ian of command. and leaving Pope to btf
overwhelmed. Having plunged everything
into inextricable disaster, he sacrificed Pope,
and in utter helplessness besought McClel-
Ian 10 take command ard save the capital.
As soon as he had recovered from that
fright, he renewed his Operations for
McClellan's downfall. By resisting Nc:
Clellan's request to have the uarper's
Ferry garrison transferred TO him, he made
himself responsible for the loss of that,
and then he tried to iasten it Oh Mcclellan
and on the commander Of the post. Next
year be repeated the same tactics Witt
Hooker and the same result was avoided
by Hooker's resigning the command.--
When Meade took cuminand he insisted
that the garrison should be transferred to
him, and then it was done. He kept
Milroy at Winchester, an indefensbls
place, to be cnvslopcd bya great rebel ar
my. and then he orgahized court martial
to transfer the blame Of his fault 70 Milroy.
When Burnside succeeded Mcclellan, and
marched to Fredericksburg, the absence Of
the pontoon> n which its crossing depet!'
ded, and which were to have been !orwar-
ded thr' ugh Washington, and the disclaim-
er Of General !lalleci of having any
concern with such operations, suggested
many inquiries as to what his particular
business was, and whether it was to Gu,
operate in any thing but disasters. But we
cannot take space 10 make even Nero
mention Of ali his performances. If there
is any prominent general who has not
come under tie treatment CT this official re.
viler of generals, We cannot Eow think 0!
his name. and we hope We Lave none bad
enough to be approved ny him. It has
been said that he Was kept as . standing
scapegoat for military disssl Ter: but b.
defeated this purpose hy his activity in
pr, curing disaster. and thwarting success.
We can imagine no use for him. except to
perpetuate the Roman institution Ut an
official reviler Of generals. to keep down
military pride. For this he has exhibited
both position and negative proof Of quail.
iticstiors; positive by his zeal in abusive.
ness, and negative by his total failure IN
every other military performance. Let
him be kept to the Office he is a,ted