The age-herald., 1898-02-22
THAT LINC0LN-
 MCCLELLAN INCIDENT

The story told by General Lew Wallace at Lincoln birthday celebration. to the ef- feet that the war president went to Har- rison's Landing in July, 1862. to prevent Mcclellan from surrendering the army of the Potomac has received much attention and will receive vastly more.
 General Wallace's prominence during and l since the war and his high rank as a think CT and an author are well calculated to give any statement he may make decided weight. However, there is still in the walks of life great number of men who will ] be prompt to say that General Wallace l is mistaken, or that he has been incorrect 1 ly reported relative to the sensational i story.
 1 There was no time while the army of the l Potomac was the peninsula in 1862 when | 1t did not largely outnumber the army Of l Northern Virginia, with which 1t contended. | At the time General Wallace credits Lin- coin with saying that he was going to | HarriSon's Landing to prevent Mcclellan from surrendering. the battle of Malvern | Hill had been fought, resulting in sting ing blow to General Lee, and the army Of the Potomac was as safely quartered as if 1t had been behind the Notifications Me- Clellan had built about Washington. 1 Look at the records in the war depart mont No sign of surrender is found. Quite i the contrary
 | president from Harrisons Bar as follows: | "The last of the wagons reached here at noon yesterday. The exhaustion was very great, but the army preserved it's morale and would have repelled any attack which the enemy was in position to make. Our position can only be taken by overwhelming numbers. The spirit of the army is excel- | lent. There points where the enemy ! can establish himself with cannon or mus l ketry and command the river, and where l 1t Is not certain that our gunboats can 1 drive him off In case of this, or in case | our front is broken, l will make every ef- | fort to preserve at least the personnel of the army, and the events of the last few days leave no question that the troops will do all that their commander can ask.''
 So Mcclellan talked when the president | is credited with belief that it was neces- sary for him to interpose to prevent a l surrender
 July after the army had reached Har- l r1SonS Landing, where 1t remained six weeks. General Mcclellan said, in tele- | gram to the president:
 'The enemy has not attacked My posi- tion is very strong and daily becoming more so. If not attacked today I shall | laugh at them. My men are in splendid spirits and anxious to try it again. Aarm yourself little possible about me and don't lose confidence in the army"
 Does that sound like the talk of man who is contemplating the surrender of his | army2
 On the 11th he again addressed the presl- dent, saying:
 We are very strong here now, so far | as the defensive is concerned Hope you will soon make us strong enough to try | again.
 No appearance of a disposition to sur | render in that
 The next day Little Mac'' sent this to Washin gton:
 "The men are resting well, but begin- ming to be impatient for another fight I am more and more concerned that tnls army ought not to be withdrawn from here, but promptly re-enforced and thrown again upon Richmond. If we have httie more than half a chance we can take dt
 Let me quote more from Mcclellan, this time from the letters written his wife. July g, 1862. after President Lncosn had visited him att Harisons Landing, on the James river Mcclellan said to hs wife:
 "His excelency was here yesterday, and left this morning. He found the army | anything but demorahzed or dispirited IL is in excellent spirits
 On July 13 he said: ''The probability is that I will attack again very soon-as soon as some losses are supplied. l nauoer myself that this army is greater unorn in the side of the rebellion than ever, ana I most certainly (with Gods blessing) m tend to take Richmond with it." | Among the war records there are also va rlous letters and dispatches from President Lincoln to Gen. Mcclellan while the latter was on the peninsula, indicating that the president was fearful that the army of the Potomac would be destroyed. On several l occasions, in these dispatches or letters, ne appealed to Mcclellan to save the army but no word from Mcclellan to the presi- | dent or the secretary of war or to his wife has ever been found indicating that for an instant he entertained the thought that the army of the Potomac would be de- stroyed or that it would be necessary for him to surrender 1t.
 It seems almost monstrous to hint that 100 ,OO0 men and such generals as Sumner. Hooker, Kearney, Hancock, Sedgwick and | others could be driven into surrendering to an army of 0,000 they had just defeated at Malvern Hill.
 Surely Gen. Wallace has made mis- take, a grievous mistake. The story IS absurd.
 Mr. Lincoln was at times very ironical. When a delegation appealed to him for the 1 removal of Grant from his command claiming that his incorporate habits was menace to the army, Lincoln asked them if they knew what kind of whisky Grant drank, adding that if he knew he would buy many barrels of 1t and present one to each of a large number Of his generals. | The outcome of the peninsula campaign was distressing to MT. Lincoln, as 1t was to the army and the whole north. Mr. Lin coin may have said, ironically, that he was going to visit the army of the Potomac to see that it was not surrendered, but Gen. Wallace, with all of his knowledge of the man, ought to have known then, as he should now, that MT. Lincoln did not mean that there was any danger of McClelans surrendering the army of the Potomac. |
 Two years later Lincoln was the repub- lican candidate for president and McClel- Ian the democratic candidate. If McCiel- Ian had contemplated the surrender of the l army of the Potomac at Harrison's Land- ing two years before, the fact would have been brought out in that exciting political contest. What a campaign story 1t would have made. How suddenly 1t would have brought the democratic national committee together to demand the decination of Mo- Clellan.
 word more about Mcclellan and his | army.
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