St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-03-13
The SPECTER OF BLACK sam.


1t is an authoritative and truthful
statement of what occurred one night
i'll '62 when Mcclellan was sustaining
one whole week of solid thrashing before
he knew that he could never enter
Richmond
ION to RichmOndr had been the cry:
''back to the gunbOatS" soon became
the mot 'orde. Mcclellan was a good
soldier and he saved his army when he
retreated from Richmond in the face of
telegraphic growls from Washington,
and protests daily and hourly from his
own corps commanders. lie was SIN
gularly misiudged, ill-treated man, both
at this time and after. Nothing on
earth could have whipped Lee and
jackson then, for they had men (veter-
ans. money, food, clothing. high spirits
and plenty of ammunition, and the
Confederate capital, with the enemy in
full view from the hOuSetOpS, was the
gayest of gay cities at that time. We
just couldn't have whipped then. 1t
would take two more years of awful
carnage-two more years OF isolation
from the world. two more years OF UNI
paralleled suffering and starvation for
Grant to strike down the wan and
wasted apparitiOn at ppOmattoX, which
called itself. still proudly, the army of
Northern Virginia.
Mcclellan knew too we'll that no force
the North could summon at that time
could then take Richmond. Ills loss by
shot and sickness was tremendous. and
that each day added to his danger. A
week more and he would be surrounded
and forced to the humiliation OF sur
rAuGpr Patriot that no WAS he nrp-
ferred the censure Of the war depart
ment to the sacrifice OF his splendid
army-and like a wise and good COM
mander he did the best thing he could
do under the circumStanceS-he re-
treated, but he retreated as the dying
grizzly retreats when shot to death.
slowly, sullenly-but still full of dan
ger and ferocity. Malvern Hill, think,
showed that, and Magruder-Well all
men make mistakes. Our boys fought
as they always did, but they couldn't
storm the very gates of hell.
Less than $1,000 men trying to assail
hill trlple-crOwned with over 100 guns
and defended by nearly 100, coo veterans.
tory Mcclellan made all haste 10 get
under cover of his gunboats. His otfi-
GERS demonstrated. They wanted to
turn back on our shattered ranks and
march straight to Richmond. But Lit
tie Mac" Judged better than they; he
knew that Lee and jackson and plenty
of fresh troops lay in the way between
him and the confederate capital, and he
said to them:
mo, gentlemen, let us get to our base
and reform for another attempt. If we
were to pursue the enemy now we
should be inevitably whipped. We had
the choice Of position here, and Ma
gruder was an old fool to attack US: but
who shall say what may happen if we
venture to attempt with diminished and
demoraliZed army what we could not DO
in the full flush of our vigOr before
Richmond. No; let the order be given
at once for an orderly retreat. We have
hit them too hard to fear pursuit"
But still his officers protested, and
Philip Kearney, holding up the stump
of his arm when Mcclellan had gone,
exclaimed passionately to the officers
around him: II, Phil Kearney, an old
soldier, did most solemnly protest
against this most coWardly and dis
graceful retreat"
But time approved McClellan's judy
ment
He had done the wlsest thing to do,
and he had done it well.
1t was during these exciting days that
the incidents of my story took place.
had only recently rejoined my regi-
ment, the Seventh Georgia. Wneu [ was
ordered, being still weak from wound
| received some five months previous, to
have my name carried again on the
| roster, but for a week or two to report
| to the commiSsariat department for
| clerical duties, being, as L was, a good
| penman and accountant.
| My duties we're arduous, and such en-
| tanglement as we got into sometimes
would paralyZe professional account
| ant. Not that it was our fault. though
We were literally "cussed OUT for it.
but because reouisltions were sent in in
such strange forms and in SO many IL
regular ways. We had all necessary
blanks, but they seemed of small use to
| the men to WnOm we sent them. y
reQulsition for caIomel and hay, bed
| ding and opium. StirrupS and cartridges,
digitalIS and ''sow-belly" (bacnn) would
come in on one sheet and have to be re-
ferred and re-referred and entered and
| re-entered, SO that | grew nearly dis
tracted and longed to he with the boys
| again. | sometimes think now. conSid-
eriDg how much was really wasted or
| arrived too late, that if we could have
had fifty or sixty experienced commits
| Sariat men, that the issue of that wal
would have been different.
Well, il was after one of these days
of exhausting labor at the desk that, the
night being warm, / strOlled around tC
a hotel much trequented by officers and
| the ieuneSSe dOree of the whole South
who were III Richmond at the time, and
seating M self at one of the tables
called for light lunch and glass u1
wine.
While awaiting my order to be filled
| picked up an old copy of the New
| York Tribune and began TO READ what
| our friends, the enemy, had to say about
us, as listened to the occasional boom
ing of their heavy guns without.
Suddenly an advertisement caught
my eye:
XATANTED-New of the whereabouts Of
w Miss Imogene Hartley, now in tht
South. Any one applying to any officer o.
the field or staff of the United States army
and sending ct .er containing the ABOVE in
| formation will he literally rewarded an(
granted safe passage Of the bearer be {
| Southern NAM back to his own lines. Meas
| ures have been taken TO secure the return
of Miss II. TO her friends should her where
abouts become known. Address, Parents
this office.
Imogene Hartley!
Why. she was the woman ] loved bes
in all this world. She it was who's,
gentle nursing had brought me back,
might say, from the grave, and i'll who's,
sweet society nearly all of my conva
descent hours had been passed, until on
of pure shame my conscience drove MI
to the ranks again, when, as say,
was detailed for clerical work. / wa
now fully recovered, and only the nigh
previous had come as near to an opel
avOwal of love as in those times
and knowing her antecedents. | dared
But, although Northern girl. knew
she loved me. She had been Soutt
when the war broke out and had beer
taken with long illness. Letters from
Raleigh, she told me. and from Char
lottesburg, where she was staying will
friends, had reached her parents. bu
| hnr Ia amos nlnSt n1.il.I1 lA IN Irla .