Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-11-08


to the sword. When the great people of the
North had risen to the hight OF seeing the
enormous deyiltry and the absurd and
awful mdecency of human bondage inside
Tor outside or alongsdel of a democratic
republic, then, and not till then. was the
wiping of the Shareholders conteder-
scy from the face of earth al
inevitable transaction When the storm
and stress Of the nation had brought the
millions up to that sublime pitch, then the
| advent Of the hero was easy and natural
Before that, was failure; after it, success
Before that, II was clamor and wranglc Of
spectators, suffers and politicians. Edit
! Drs congressman, and ShOpkeepers planned
| campaigns and played checkers with gcncr-
ais. The people had not been in war for
half century and their habits. the reverse
OF those of the southern people. were un-
| warlike They had Ia he prodded to anger
| and educated to fight.
When Mcclellan took the army 1t was q
| grand mob Of raw recruits. with the panic
OF Bull Run yet upon them. They had to
| be made soldiers out of the rough. The
making of a war-maChine out Of a
| man takes time There had to be drill
| without end. Somebody had to take the
time to do 1t, and take the odum of popular
| impatience at the delay.
| Mcclellan did 1t, He may have been too
| slow. Most of us thought he was. But
We all learned later that the task of putting
down the rebellion was no little paStimc be-
| fore breakfast, and that We had occasionally
to wait a good while for the movement of
older generals who had veteran troops tu
move with.
And then, when Mcclellan did move. the
soldiers, though well drilled, were new to
war. They had to be educated to it by the
discipline of hardship~ and the lessons Of
battle. 1t was not that they lacked courage.
but that they wanted experience both otti-
GERS and men
And they wanted more than this The
sentiment Of merely saving the Union wa,
not enough. The nations later. grander
| inspiration, that the Union was not worth
saving with slavery in II and that the saving
of II must be- 4 salvation unto universal free
dom-this motive was not Vet strong enough
to nerve the sword-arm and aim the guns.
Besides. there was the politics of Wash
ington petttogging~in the camps and ON the
very haitlehed~. Demagog~m vas on
a picnic in the army Of the Potomac.
The soldiers We're not vet enthuSrd with
the anger of a nation. and the officers,
Mcclellan among them, seemed to hr 81,
| h,,
would b" left after the war should have
done It's work upon these men
With all these drawb backs Mcclellan failed
But who knows If Grant might not have
failed In the same discouraging circum.
stances? And who knows If Mcclellan
might not have won, with Grants later and
better opportunities
Grant went la backed by the pluck and
earne>tless Of the western people Wha,
the war meant and what il was for was
known and felt much earlier and much more
thoroughly by these peoole than by the
eastern. We furnished the wars great cap
tains-,irsnt. Sherman, Sheridan-beca,ls.
our soldiers wanted 10 fight right away. and
demanded leaders who wanted to fgh,
right away. 1t was the only business in
hand and We knew IT,
Grant had thi, western spirit to the full
the spirit to seek the enemy and pound him
To pieces. His soldiers were a. well disci-
pllned I" night a. the soldiers that met them
were. The picked and drilled troops of the
Confederacy were In the east confronting
the picked and drilled troops Of the Union
there Out here 1t was Greek meeting
Greek-men used to roughing it and hand
ling guns haphazard against like men on
the other side and both sides In something
Ike deadly earnest.
When Grant had got his start thus. then.
| being called a. come up higher he had
the drilled and disciplined and veteran
troops to handle. The virtue Of MrClrI-
| lan's preparation now showed itself
McClellan's drill, in the fullncsss of time,
now bore fruit.
Could not Mcclellan himself have taken
those trained and experienced hosts. uhcu
Grant took h'm and gone 10 Richmond AS
| quickly and as economically Of blood a.
| Grant went? And could Grant have gone To
| Richmond at the time Mcclellan wa, hal
| looed and bounded to 20?
| 1t was difference Of circumstances much
wider than the difference of the two men.
At any rate, every one can see that McClel-
lan's patient work in the beginning con-
tributed very largely to Grants magnificent
| triumph in the end. And future impartial
history ought not to say. and it will not say,
| that the success all belongs to Grant and th,.
failure all to Mcclellan.