Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-06-30
VOLUME XXXIII.

mander OF more dash 10 Wleiu the NedpOn
in the field MCCLELLAN caution amount
ed very closely 20 timidity-moral timidlty
for he was personally brave. On his hrst
landing on the Penninsular there had been
only seven thousand troops to meet him,
and these he should have rushed upon and
overwhelmed at whatever cost.
Cautions, and wishing tospare the blood
of his men, he commenced a regular siege
at Yorktown, giving his enemies time to
concentrate sufficient numbers and drive
them back As a magnanimOus enemy he
respected MCCLELLAN, bot thought he had
been promoted too rapidly for his own
good-before he had ripened in command,
and gained the experience requisite for the
supreme position. Had he been kept in
subordinate capacity the first two years OF
the war, rising from a division to a corps,
and thence to command in chief, he would
have been the greatest Of our soldiers. He
had the BEST natural gifts and highest intel
lectual training, and was Just becoming
fitted, and the best fitted, for his position
when removed Had he been supported by
the government, he might have taken
Richmond two years earlier, and it was
with Joy Mr.. DAVIS heard of his removal
after the battles of South Mountain and
Antietam. Such sacrifices of officers to the
ignorance of an unwarlike people, anxious
20 find in him a scapegoat for their own
lack Of discipline or endurance, were una
yoidable in the early stages Of every popular
war.
GENERAL POPE.
PoPE. while Secretary Of War, he had
never been able to make serviceable, and
Porn held his own gaiiantly. His mind
was not less inflated than his body. He was
a kind OF American gascon, but with good
scientific attainments. SUMNER and SEDG-
WICK were gallant and able soldiers-excel-
lent commanders in action, courteous and
reliable in all the relations Of life. Hun
TER. of who ! asked him specially as one Of
my old commanders, was his beau ideal of
the military gentlcman-the soul Of integri-
ty, intrepidity, true Christian piety, and
honor. Mr.DAvIs had long been associated
with him, both in the service and socially,
and believed HUNTER's want of success due
in a great measure to his unwillingness to
bend to anything mean or sinister. He was
rash, impulsive; man of action rather
than thought; yielding TO passions which
he regarded as divine instincts or intuitions
the natural temper of devotee or fanatic.
OF the officers on the Confederate side, Mr.
DAVIS spoke in high terms of General LEE,
as a great soldier, and pure, Christian gentle
men; also, in praise Of BRAGG and PEMBER-
TON, though the two latter, from unavoidable
circumstances, and the hostility of the party
opposed to Mr.. DAVIS, had not been accorded
the position due to their talents by public
opinion in either section. PESIBERToN
made a splendid defense of Vicksburg, and
might have been relieved if the officer COM
manding the army sent to relieve him (Gen-
eral JOHNSTON had not failed to obey the
positive orders to attack General GRANT,
which Mr.. Seldom, then Secretary of War,
had sent If the same officer, who was up
held in command by the anti-administration
party, had vigorously attacked SHERMAN, at
Atlanta, when directed, the fortunes of the
war would have been changed and SHER-
MAN hurled back to Nashville, over a sterile
and wasted country-his retreat little less
disastrous than NAPOLEoN's from Moscow.
He did not do so, and was Acknowledgement
HOOP a true and spirited soldier, taking his
place-but the opportunity was then gone;
and TO this delay, more than to any other
cause the Southern people will attribute
their overthrow, whenever history comes to
be truly written.
Braces victory over RosEcRANs at
Chickamauga, Mr.. DAVIS regarded as one
of the most brilliant achievements of the
war; considering the disparity of the forces.
The subsequent concentration of GRANT and
HOOKER with RosEcRANs, and tie victory |
of their combined forces at Lookout Noun |
tain, was the result of an audacity or despe-
ration which no military prudence could |
have foreseen. SO confident was BRAGG in |
the impregnability of his position, that i'm |
mediatey after Chickamaugua he detached |
with 10000 men-about a
third of his entire force-to make demon |
stration against Knoxville, thus indirectly |
threatening GRANTS communications with |
Nashville. BRACES position was finally |
carried by the overwhelming numbers of the |
enemy. The opponents Of his administra- |
ton censured BRAGG for detaching LONG |
STREET, but the subsequent events which |
made that movement unfortunate were of a
character which no prudence could have |
foreseen. no military calculation taken into |
view as probable.
All such reflections were idle, however, |
concluded Mr.. DAVIS, and he must not again |
be betrayed into their indulgence. Success
is virtue and defeat crime. This is the |
of life-at least the only ole |
he great masses Of mankind feel ready to |
accept. Woe to the conquered is no less a
popular cry in the nineteenth century than
when the barbarisns first yelled it as they |
swarmed with dripping swords to the sack
of Rome.
ANDREW JOHNSON.
As Mr.. DAVIS was speaking Of the Senate, |