The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-05-02

X
sto the James, and that operation was
s.judicious, IL not Brilliant Unhappily,
she waited to be forced TO 50, 'haiting, as
. as that General so often did, In the Pc
" rilous halfway house between the often
g sivc and thedefensiye.' Then commenced
"that 'arduous retreat, when, weary, and
" hungry, and foot-sorc, the army marched
I" by night and. fought by day through
q whole week of toll, and never gave up,
"but made . good fight, and reached the
"goal.'
aGcncral McCLxLLAN still had eighty
/" five thousand men, with which he pro-
!" posed to do just what GRANT did later,
!" after loss far more appalling than Nc
"CI,ErIAN's--march south of the James to
!" attack Petersburg.
"But General HALLEcK was anxious for
"the army to leave the Peninsula, and
"'therc was another person full as anxious
" namely, General LEE. Mr.. SwINToS
suggests doubts as to the wisdom OF a
"measure in which the opposing chiefs
"uere in such entire harmony"
All this from Mr.. SwrNToN's point OF
view. We, on this side, do not believe
that General "McCLELLAS might have
crossed his right wing to the south bank
"of the Chickahominy and marched
"straight on misunderstanding not
into it; for General HUGEI, with large
army, stood idly by for days, expecting an
attempt to be made Of this very kind, and
obcycd his orders SO strictly in keepin5
watch where stationed but making no adj
vances, that he is thought to have lost his
place in the Confederate army because he
did not intercept MCCLELLAN on his march
to the James. Yet, as we are not writing
criticism, but only giving Mr.. SwINToN's
views, we proceed.
GENERAL JOHN POPE,
who dated his dispatches, "Headquarters
in the Saddle" and declared that he had
never seen anything of the rebels but their
backs, and whose best uniform was Soon
afterwards exposed in a shop-keeper's
window on our Main street, was the sue
cessor of MCCLELLAN.
"For Pores campaign, and that officer
"himself, Mr.. SwINToN has obviously pro-
" found contempt, and makes much fun of
PORES neutrality-suspicious. proclama-
/" ton" SO much for Pore.
GENERAL BURNSIDE.
"IIe lapscd from the "-reatness thrust
"upon him without forfeit ng the respect
"of the country for his zeal and patri-
"otism bat he left behind him no illusions
respecting his capacity for the command Of
I" an army"
Well said, and truly. Erit BURNSIDE.
GENERAL HOOKER.
"Till he met the enemy, HOOKER showed
ga master-grasp of the elements of war,
"but the moment he confronted his an
"tagonist, he seemed to suffer collapse of
call his powers, and after this his conduct,
{" with the exception of one or two mo-
mentary flashes of talent, was marked by
"an incomprehensiblc feeblencss and fault
"ness; for in each crisis his action was not
"only bad, it was, with fatal infclicity,
I" the worst that could have been adopted.
"* When, on the contrary, he found
"his antagonist making rapid change of
"front and hurrying forward to accept the
"gage of battle in the Wilderness, the
General whose stride had been that of a
"giant, shrunk to the proportions of
"dwarf.'
All, LEE and his brave army ruined
many a Federal Generals rcputation.-
HOOKER staggered in the following style,
says Mr.. SwINToN, who heard him:
"The rebel army" said he, "is now the
Legitimate property of the Army of the
" Potomac. They may as well pack up
"their haversacks and make for Richmond !;
"and shall be after them"
GENERAL MISREPRESENTATION.
"LoSGsTREET assured Mr.. SwINToN, in
" conversation, that LEE, at the outset of
"his invasion, had expressly promised his
"corps commanders that he would not
"hinself attack, but force his opponent to
"attack him. Having, however, gotten
"taste of blood in the considerable sue
"cess of the first day, the Confederate
commander seems to have lost that equi-
"poisc in which his faculties commonly
"moved, and he determined to give bat
"tle.'"
So little have we in regard to General
MEADE and the battle of Gettysburg that
we are declined to think that Mr.. SwINToN
does not regard the result as the great
Federal victory which the most Of writer's
on that side represent it to be.
GENERAL GRANT.
"That Mr.. SwINToN has not the most
" exalted opinion of General GRANTS ge-
+" MUS is everywhere evident, but he does
]" consider him 'steadfast, pertinacious
/" commander"
As to the battle Of the Wilderness,
GRANTS first with LEE, We are told that
"neither GRANT nor MEADE ever expected
LEE to make stand where he did, much
"less to assume a bold and skilful often
"sive." The next, that at Spottsylvania
q