El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-03-12

aTIerwaIU OF so MUCH use, anu pldQneO
spring campaign which was approved boil
by the secretary of war and General Nc
Clellan. but through some political maneu
vering the plan was not adopted, and Rose
Grams was Obliged to devote his time fo
some weeks in finding General bienker.
| command, which, strange as it may seem
had actually got lostI Another plan for tn,
campaign was at once devised by Generali
Banks and Rosecrans, but it, too, came tt
Il naught through the neglect of others thar
| Rosecrans.
Early in April General Rosecrans took IN
hand General Blenker's forces, which were
| badly demoralized. May Is, his work ended
| he reported to Washington, whence he was
! sent to General Halleck at Corinth, Miss.
| then the center of interest in the west
| Halleck finally placed Rosecrans in com
mand of the right wing of the Army of the
| Mississippi, shortly after which the Con-
federates evacuated Corinth and were at
| once pursued by Rosecrans. No general
| engagement followed, though there were
| several skirmishes June ID General Pope
| returned to Virginia, and Rosecrans was
| placed in command of the Army of the Mis-
| sissippi
On the Sd of October the battle of
Corinth began. Rosecrans disposed of the
men under him to the best advantage. On
the 4th the Confederates were disastrously
defeated, their loss being ], 423 killed, 3 500
wounded, 2,2iS prisoners, IA stands of colors
! artillery. guns. etc. They were pursued 40
miles in force and 60 with cavalry. The
pursuit should have been continued, &C
cording to Rosecrans to Vicksburg, which,
he says could then have easily been cap
tured
General Rosecrans then re-established his
headquarters at Corinth, where he remained
till Oct 26, when, by an order dated two
days earlier, he was placed in command of
Il %I-
unanimous testimony of all survivors that
that army was at it's worst in October, 1862,
and the same might be said of all the Fed
eral armies. One item is enough to show
the condition. The number of deserters
from the western armies alone was 81, 900 at
the close of that year Under the presi
dents proclamation most of these returned
to duty later and proved themselves good
soldiers. They were simply worn out and
discouraged by the events of the summer
and fall of 1862
1t is also the general testimony that the
arrival of General Rosecrans seemed to
send a thrill of fresh energy through his
command Advance was soon in order, and
the battle of Murfreesboro (Stone Riverl
Dec % and 30, 1862 made the commanding
general the hero of the nation for the time.
It is fact demonstrate by the journals of
that date that until after the capture of
Vicksburg Rosecrans was more the popu
lar hero than Grant.
Fatal Chickamauga.
The critics are still fighting over Chick
amauga 1t ended General Rosecrans'
chance for honors in the war. Rosecrans
had won notable victory and had mag
niicent army. The entire north looked for
even greater things from him than he had
already accomplished. From Jan. 4, 1862
to June % his army lay at Murfreesboro
Rosecrans explained that this was because
of the weakness of his cavalry, the scarcity
Of forage the nature of the roads, and the
policy of holding Bragg on his front, rather
than driving him out of Tennessee only
that he might unite with Joseph E. John
ston and fall upon Grant, still struggling
before Vicksburg. A great deal Of grum-
bling from Rosecrans because of lack of at,
tention to his requests for more cavalry
and of fault finding on the part of the war
department followed-in fact, 1.-The relations
between him and his superiors became
greatly strained, so that his official destruct
ton was but question of time and oppor
tunity." On June %, however, in the face
Of opposition from every one of his corps
and division generals, Rosecrans began
forward movement against Bragg, and in a
campaign of nine days drove the enemy
from two fortified positions and won for
the Federals the possession of middle Ten
nessee with total loss Of only $50, while
he took 1000 prisoners, six cannon and
great quantities of stores. The confidence
of the people in Rosecrans was largely re-
stored by this brilliant campaign, but the
relations between himself and General
Halleck, commander in chief, and the war
department were not less strained. Aug. 5
Halleck telegraphed a peremptory order to
RnsecEans to move Rosecrans declined tc