River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1880-07-29
SECRET HISTORY.

attacking General Hancock, but if /
am not misinformed, some facts will
be made public that will iniure the
canvass of the Democratic candidate
for the Presidency. Hancock. 1t is al
legged, was violent partisan of McClel-
Ian, and wien the latter was relieved
from command of the Army of the PO-
tOmac, IA council of war was held which
included FitZ John Porter, Franklin,
Hancock, ''Baldy" Smith, and num-
Der of other officers of lesser note. 1t
is said that at the meeting General
Hancock proposed THAT the order for
the removal of Mcclellan be Disregard
ed and the army marched upon Wash
ington to depOSe Lincoln and Stanton.
This revolutionary programme, the
story goes, was seconded by FltZ John
Porter, and would have been adopted
had Mcclellan had the nerve Of his
fiery friend, Hancock. 1t is 10 matter
of history that there was great deal
of Indignation expressed by Mcclellan
officers upon his removal, and it is be-
lieVed that there is an nwritten chap
ter in which Hancock figures. but not
| TO his advantage. 1t is stated that
Gen. Grant knew oil about the matter
and that at the proper time the whole
story will be told to an astonished
public
General Il. S. Allen, eX-Secretary of
State, and now of the Oshkosh North
western, supplements the above state
ment with the following:
"The writer has some personal recol-
lections us to the facts above stated
1t was well known among the officers of
the Army of the Potomac that there
was great dissatisfaction among regu-
| lar officers at the removal of Gen.
Mcclellan and the Appointment of Gen.
Pope.
1t was no secret that they were OPP
posed to the policy of Mr.. Lincoln and
the Republican party. These named
above were old Democrats and did not
conceal their pro-slavery sentiments.
The rumOrs which leaked out from
some of the regular army officers were
to the effect that programme had
been discussed by which Mcclellan
should make terms with General Lee
that the flags of the two armies should
be united and marched to Washington.
1t was understood that the terms had
mutually been agreed on. The plan
| failed for the reason that it was dis
| covered that the Army of the Potomac
could not be relied on to become the
| tool of treason. But the plan was not
definitely abandoned until just before
| the battle of Antietam. The writer
well remembers how the matter was
discussed on the march to the battle
| field, and there was constant fear
| lest some trap should be sprung upon
| the country. 1t was believed by many
at the time, that the battle of Antie-
| tam was not made a decided victory
| because of the sympathy with General
Lee, whose army ought to have been
captured.
The investigation of the committee
on the conduct of the war ought to
have brought out the facts in the case,
| but it did not. But at the suggestion
of a Wisconsin officer, Gen. Hancock
was asked some questions about the
| matter. He very conveniently recol
| lected nothing about it; but on retiring
| from the witness stand he was heard
| to wonder "WhO the ID had posted
the committee and dictated the ques-
| ton asked The committee did not
| follow up the investigation as it should
| have done, and the exact truth has
never been ascertained. That there is
a substantial basis for the charges
made by the American, there can be
no doubt. But the extent to which
negotiations and plans were carried
has not yet been proved, and further
| investigation is in order.
The base proposition of Hancock
that the army of the Potomac be join
ed with that of the rebel General Lee
and marched to Washinton for the
overthrow of the government is quite
Characteristic of the man who after the
close of the war as a Division Com
mander sought to nullify the recon
struction acts of Congress. and placed
him in proper position to receive the
Democratic nomination for President.
The feeling that this information Gre
ates is amply justified by the fact that
Of the three Generals above named,
one-Porter-wa subsequently court
marshalleG for treason, and two-Mc-
Clellan and KancOck--a afterwards be-
came the candidate of the rebel De-
mocracy for President. General bal
dy'' Smith, also Democrat, is author
ity for the statement that Hancock eX-
pressed willingness to obey orders
from that unmitigated fraud Samuel
J. Tilden in a certain contingency,
and was largely instrumental in secur-
ing Hancock s nomination. They were
precious set of loyalGO commanders,
restrained from turning everything
over to the rebels only by the sturdy
loyalty and patriotism of the subordi-
nate officers and private soldiers of
their respective commands. The
Democrats are running Hancock in the
South on his dIsloyal record and in
the North on his service in the army,
but back of all is the Democratic party
of treason, rebellion, notification, re-
pudiation, tissue-ballots, repeating,
ku-kluxism and fraud.
THE st. Louis Post-Dispatch, a DEM
ocratic paper, says:
Only fools underrate the strength of
the antagonist. In politics those who
fool themselves are worse than those
who fool others. Garfield's nominal
tion was, under the existing circum-
stances, a great, good, lucky piece of
fortune to the Republican party. Gar
field means ANTON and harmony. Gar
field means the entire Republican par
tisan vote. Garfield means Ohio. Gar
field means the hearty support of the
Hayes administration. Garfield means
an absolutely united Republican party.
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LOCAL CORRESPONDENCE.
MARTEL..
Harvesting at hand. The wheat al