Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1866-03-10
d Tn. seven Days, battles.


Hayper's Magazine for March contains %
article Of extraordinary interest, an account
Of the forces and operations Of tho great bat.
ties bstweon Mcclellan and Lee, before Rich
mond, made up from the oficial reports Of
both sides. Lees reports and those of his
subordinate Generals, Of that period, have
never become public. II appears, however,
that they were printed and bound in vol
ums at Richmond; and FROM a copy which
has fallen into the hands of the writer In
Harper, this summary Is made mp. II forms,
we may add, chapter XIX Of "Harper,s Pic
torial History OF the Rebellion" "a,
It appears, from comparison or Lees
with MeClellan's reports, that OF the begin
ming of the Seven Days the armies were very
closely matched, Mcclellan had one hun.
dred and three thousand two hundred and
twenty -four men, according 10 his own ac-
count, and Lee had ono hundred thousand
Eve hundred, according to his report. Itap-
pears further, from Lee's report, that In
every single battle our men beat the enemy,
though almost In every case greater rebel
force was brought against the part Of ours
which was permitted to fight; Il 10 shown
that on the second and third days Riohmond
was open to Mcclellan, the tide Of battle
having so rolled round that the greater part
Of Lees army was so placed as to leave the
whole Of McClellan's force between II and
Richmond. rs frglrH ...' ..r. .... ....a
Mcclellan had not moro than third Of his
army engaged in any single battle, except
that Of Malvern but our gallant troops
fought with heroic bravery; the Generals In
command on the different fields appear to
have selected admirable positions, and as the
attack lay upon the enemy, he suffered more
severely than our troops, as will be seen by
the following Official account Of the losses Of
both sides: Union killed, 1852; wounded,
1909; total, 1901. Rebel killed, 3,l5l;
wounded, rs, 255; total, 10. 405. That Is to
say, the rebel losses were twice as great as
ours In killed and wounded. -...- .u.
But after every success, Mcclellan ordered
new retreat. He appears TO have been to
tally ignorant of the enemy's position, re-
sources and strength; he had Richmond in
his power on every day Of the seven, and, on
the last day, IT, instead Of retreating from
Malvern Hill, he had attacked the enemy, he
would not only have gained Richmond, bat
destroyed the rebel army. The rebel Gen.
Trimble, In an official report, thus describes
the condition Of the Confederate army on the
morning after the battle OF Malvern Hill:
q "The next morning, by dawn, went of to
ask for orders, whom found the whole army
In the utmost disorder. Thousands Of strag.
Cling men were asking every passer-by for
their regiments; ambulances, wagons and
artillery obstructed every road. and alto
gethor, In q drenohing rain, presented a
scene Of the most woful and heartrending
confusion"
The writer 10 Haypo's Magazine adds:
&" The very show Of an attack upon such an
army, by the unbroken Union force, must
have defeated It, But there was in the mind
of its commander no thought Of an attack
When In the morning, the Confederatos
looked up the hill which they had so vainly
attempted TO scale, they saw not trace Of
he grim batteries and serried lines which
tad confronted them the night before. In
the storm and darknesSthe Union army had
hsd from victory as though 1t had been n
rout." -.
The close comparison Of tho two official
reports proves that the rank and Ole Of the
gallant army of the Potomac fought with
magnificent bravery and steadiness; they did
their share we'll; and nothing but the execra-
Bile generalship Of their leader was able 10
snatch q great victory from their grasp