The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1885-01-15
ROCK ISLAND DAILY ARGUS,
MCCLELLAN IN THE CABINET.

McNLELLhH In 1hE CEb1NEAs
The Chicago Herald says the move
ment against Richmond commenced by
the peninsula in 1862 Richmond fell in
1865. Mcclellan was in command of the
Union army in the first movement. Grant,
as all the world knows, commanded when
the siege was finally successful, and it is
significant fact, indicating McClellans
capacity Jas great captain, that it was
not until the line of movement indicated
by him was finally adopted, after repeated
failures from other directions and after
tremendous loss of life, destruction of
material and cost of money, that the rebel
capital succumbed. The nation was
impatient in 1862. 1t demanded McClel-
lea that he accomplish in six months,
with a new and in numbers an inferior
army against fresh and confident foe
who had not been staggered by the loss
of the Mississippi nor appalled, by the
majestic march of an army through the
very vitals of the confederacy, all that
successive commanders with growing ex-
perience, larger corps, more lavish equip>
ment took three years to compass. Nc
Clellen's capacity as an organizer was
admitted When the army Of the Poto-
mac was moved northward to confront
Lee in Maryland it was found necessary
to restore Mcclellan to the command in
order to secure the confidence of the sol>
diers He was removed after the victory
at Antietam upon the pretext that he
ought not have permitted tue escape of
the enemy. Yet year after Lee success
fully carried the remnant of his army from
Gettysburg, and in yet another year Ear
ly menaced Washington and retired lies
urely into the. valley, meeting no reverses
until Sheridan assumed the direction of
affairs therein. 1t was the fashion to
decry Mcclellan as naturally procrast~
inatOr. Yet he consumed months when
his successors took years He was sc>
cused Of timidity The magnitude of his
task was demonstrated in the following
years, aud the wisdom as well as the hu
mainly of prudence was seen at Freder-
icksburg and in the Wilderness. Preem>
inently an engineer, he placed great value
upon entertainments. The malignGnt
politicians and the amateur strategists
who sheer at his dirt digging forget that
until the close the shovel was more fami-
liar to the army of the Potomac than the
bay0nst. His generalship was decried
Grant paid him a reluctant compliment
when, having moved upon the northern
route with awful bloodshed, he finally
transferred his liue of operations to the
James, the very route which the sagacity
of Mcclellan had indicated as the one
available line of operation for the reduc-
ton of the rebel capital.
1t detracts nothing from the just fame
Of General Grant to insist upon justice
for General Mcclellan. Both were eda
Gated at the Military Academy, and en-
braced arms as profession It was the
misfortune of Mcclellan to be one of the
earliest of the commanders in chief, and
it cannot be denied that while Grant en-
joyed the support of the authorities al
Washington and of unlimited resources
at a time when the confederacy was at its
weakest the envy of politicians demanded
the displacement of a general whose pop.
ularity with his army was never exceeded
and whose opportunities for future dis
tinction they could not contemplate with
complacency. Mcclellan was sacrificed
to designing malice and to unthlnking
clanor The testimonial which the afTec-
ton of his soldiers deemed his due the
administration thought prudent to sup
press. His foremost friends among the
commanders were marked for retirement
One Of them was sentenced to death.
Mcclellan passed into retirement from
which he emerged as a candidate for the
presidency at junctUre and with result
unfortunate for his f0me but without i'm
pajrment to the dignity of his character
He was elected governor of New Jersey
and in that as in many public places de-
mOnstrated talent for affairs. To thi!
day the veterans of the army of the Pots
mac regard him with reverent affection
which has done more than malice or ig
norance could undo to establish the JUS
tice of his claim for recognition as de
voted loyal and capable captain Of thu
Union armies
Tie whirlgig of time brings in its re
venges. Poetic justice after this lapse o
years may give the portfolio of war to tn
victor of Autietan, and except anon!
malignants or ignorant zealots the assign
ment will be regarded as merited re
ward. OF McClellan's capacity for
place which has been filed by Georg
McCreary, Bob Lincoln, and DO
Cameron it would be idle to speak.
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SOUTHERN bellies are now 1ocking t
New York by the dozens to purchase ant
hava rnade grand outfits for fha inouuura