The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-05-08
Mcclellan AVID stanton.

In an article or THE Peninsular Cam
paign" in the May number OF the Century,
General George B. Mcclellan says:
SO long as Mr.. Cameron was Secretary of
! War received the cordial support OF that
| department, bat when he resigned the whole
| state of affairs changed. I had never mes
| Mr Stanton before reaching Washington, in
| 1861. He at once sought me aud professs
| tie utmost personal affection, The expression
! of which was exceeded only bv the bittar-
ness of his denuncistion of the Goyerament
| and its policy. l was unaware OF his
appointment as Secretary OF War until
| after it ba3 been made, vhereQpon
| he called to ascertain whether | "a.
| sired him to accept, saying that 70 do
so would involve q total sacrifice OF his par
sOnal interests, and that the only induce
| ment would be- the desire 10 assist ms in m Y
| work. Having no reason to doubt his sin =
cerity, desired him to accept, wbereupon
he consented. and with great effnsion ex-
claimed: NOW we two will save the coun-
tIyw
On the next day the President came to my
house 20 explain why he had appointed Mr..
Stanton without consulting me; MS reason
being that be supposed Stanton 10 be great
| friend of mine, and that the appoint me- at
would naturally be satisfactory, aud thai he
feared that If | bad known it beforehand il
| would be- said thst had dragooned him
| into it.
Lis DOfo oclluUS VI D1E post
| ton began with Mr.. Stanton's accession 70
the War Office 1t at once became very dit
| hcult to approach him, even for the tran sac
ton Of ordinary current business, and our
| personal relations st once ceased. The I'M
patience CT the Execr.i Immediately be-.
came extreme and l can attribute it only to
the IL tiuence OF the new Secretary, who did
many things 10 break up the free and conf
dental intercourse that had heretofore ex-
listed between the President and myself
The Government soon manifested great i'm
patience in regard - the opening OF the
Baltimore aud ONO Railroad and the de-
struction of the Confederate batteries on the
Potomac. The first object could be perma-
nently attained only by occupying the Shen-
andoah Valley with force strong enough TO
resist any attack by the Confederate army
then ct Manassas; the second only by q gen.
e,al advance of the Army of the Potomac,
driving the enemy back of the Rspidan. Ny
own view was that the movement of the
Army Of the Potomac from Urbaua would
| accomplish both of these objects, by forcing
the enemy to abandon all his positions aud
fall back 10 Richmond. | was therefore un-
willing to interfere with this plan by pre-
mature advance, the effect of which must be
either to commit US to the overland route or
to minimize the advantages OF the Urbsna
movement. l wished to hold the enemy at
Manassas to the last moment-if possible
until the advances from Urbana actually
commenced, for neither the reopsning OF the
railroad nor the destruction of the batteries
was worth the danger involved.
The positive order OF the President. prob
ably issued under the pressure of the Sscre-
tsry CT War, forced me to undertake the
opening of the railway. For this purpose
went to Harper's Ferry in February, inIend.
ing TO throw over a force sufficient 10 DC cupy
Winchester. To do this it WAS necessary to
have reliable bridge across the Potomac to
irsuTe supplies and prompt reinforcements.
The pontoon bridge, thrown ga a prelimj-
nary, could not be absolutely tr1sted on
river so liable to heavy freshets; therefore 1t
was decided TO censtruct cana5oat brid 20.
IL vss discovered, however, when the at
tempt was made that the lift-lock from the
canal TO the river was too narrow for the
boats by some four or five inches, and
therefore decided to rebuild the railroad
bridge and content myself with occupying
Cbarlestown until its completion, postpon.
ing TO the same time the advance on Win
chester. / had fully explained my intentions
TO the President and Secretary before leav-
ing Washington, providing for precisely such
a contingency. While at Harper's Ferry
learned that the President was dissatisfied
with my action, and on reaching Washing
ten laid q full explanation before the Sec.
retary, with which he ex pressed himself Gu
iirely satisfied, and told me that the Prssi-
dent was already go, and that it vas unnecss
safy for me to communicate with him upon
the subject. / then proceeded with the prep
arations necessary to force the evacuation of
the Potomac batteries On the very day ap-
pointed for the division ommGndsss to come
10 headquarters to receive their final orders,
the President sent for me- then learned
that he had received no explanation
OF tbs Harper's Ferry affair, aud that
the Secretary was not authorized to make
the statement already referred to: but after
my repetition of it the President became
fully satisfied with my course. He then,
however, said that there was another "very
ugly matter which be desired 10 talk
about, and thst was the movement by the
lower Chesapeake. He said that il had besn
suggested that l proposed this movement
with the "traitorous'' purpose of lesving
Washington uncovered and exposed TO at.
tack. / very promptly objected to the
coupling of any such adjective with my pur.
poses, whereupon he disclaimed any
intention of conveying the idea that
be expressed his own opinion, az he
merely repeated the suggestions Of others.
After showing that the fortif cations of
Washington were amply sufficient to PRO.
tect it against assault, and the frequent
Withdrawals of troops for its defense were
as unnecessary as they were fatal to the sue
Gets of his campaign. General Mcclellan
closes his article with a description of the
seven days fighting and says:
No praise can be too great for the Off GERS
end men who passed through these seven
days of battle enduring fatigue without a
murmur. successfully meeting and repelling
every attack made upon them, always In the
right place at the right time, and emerging
from the fiery ordeal compact army of vet
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