Lamoille newsdealer. [volume] (Hyde Park, Vt.) 1860-1877, 1869-07-13
THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.
ADDRESS BY GOV. CHAMBERLAIN.

49, ADDRESS BY Gov CHAMBERLAIN.
The following arc extracts from the al
dress of Governor Chamberlain, of Me-.
delivered at Stoinway Hall, N. Y, at the
reunion of the officers of the Army of the
Potomac =
n
But my theme is the Army Of the Pc
tomac, and my friends from other armies
must pardon me if | seem partial, and
those who cannot share these recollcctions
must not greatly blame me if my words
are warm.
1t is charged upon us that our campaigns
were feeble, our battles indecisive, and
even our victories barren. Whatever Of
truth there may be in this does not lie
against the valor of the army, but rather
against the great plan of operations itself.
The enemy were in their own country, and
that singalarly advantageous for defence,
and they were, moreover, on the interior
lines. Our line Of operations against
Richmond lay directly across the course Of
the many formidable river and wild tor
rents that flow from the mountains to the
sea and these, with the banks and paral-
lei ridges, rising terrace above terrace,
square acsoss our advance, made in fact
of the whole region for the space of more
than one hundred miles, a constant series
of natural Notifications, parapct and ditch,
and that on colossal scale. Then there
were the dense forests with clearings here
and there, just wide enough for good rife
range, greatly facilitating the defence ; Of
ten SO thick and tangled that great bat
tie had to be fought out of sight Of its
commander by divisions and brigades un-
certain Of each others fortune, and all, as
it were, in the dark. 1t will be seen that
WIN rev and bad roads, the party of the
offensive must encounter other evils than
those which directly concern the fortune
of arms. 1t is not easy to obtain or trans
port supplies on which so great degree of
successful movements depend. Taking all
these things together, every one will see
that the task before us was not an easy
one, and that in our rough and rugged
campaigns we could neither apply the
maxlms nor initiate the examples of the
great European masters of the art CT war.
Then, too, we had an army opposed to
us such as the Confederacy had now here
else, an army reared in the same field
growing up with us, taught by the same
experience, trained By the same discipline,
matched aud balanced against ts.n weight
and measure and movement.
That Army of Northern Virginia! Who
can help looking back upon them now with
feelings halffraternal? Ragged and reck
less, yet careful to keep their bayonets
bright and lines of battle we'll dressed ;
reduced to dire cxtremities sometimes, vet
always ready for fight rough aud rude,
yet knowing well how to make "A field H.
iustrious.
Who can forget them-the brave bronz.
ell faces that looked at us for four years
across the flaming pit-men with whom in
a hundred fierce grapples we fought with
remorseless desperation, and all the terri
BILE enginery Of death, till on the one side
and the other quarter of a million fell.
and yet we never hated except that they
struck at the old flag2
Main force against main force, there
was good reason why, whcn valoy like that
was exhausted, the sun should 90 down
on thousands dead, but not one yanquish-
cd.
The chief fault found with us was, |
believe, that we did not move. Now, he.
sides what | have already suggested, there
are several reasons why it was not easy
for us to do so, why moving did not con-
stitute for us the perfection of strategy
and chief end Of scholarship. The fact
is, as our adversaries carried their "de-
fcnsive' into the offensive" we we're
constantly forced to conduct our 'ofTen-
slve" with reference to the edefensive. !"
We were TO cover the capital, and the
peculiar thing obout ii was that this CAPT
tai was, practically, in the cnemys terri
tory-ccrtainly on the very verge Of 10y.
atty. Indeed, We had TO keep no small
force within it and far to the rear Of It,
not solely for defence and for guarding
the approaches, but TO restrain the inhab-
Itints in ono place or another from giving
aid and comfort to the enemy. Nor did
even this prevent the capital from being
more than once cut of from the loyal