The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-28
THE IRON BRIGADE
Story of TaE ARMY OF THE POTOMAc
A CRY FROM THE AMBULANCE.


has come For weeks the army hangs
there inert and chatting along the Potomac,
while Lee and his bronzed veterans saun-
ter away through the Shenandoah, feed
ing on the fat of the land" Marveling at
the inaction of Mcclellan, Stuart rides back
with some eighteen hundred horse and two
light guns and. of course. Pelham; and.
just as he did a few months earlier down
on the Peninsula, joys contemptuously
clear around the bewildered and indignant
divisions. laughing at the effort of Pleas
anton to catch or others to head him.
Mcclellan says his cavalry is too wearied
and broken down to accomplish anything
and the President mildly asks what it has
been doing to so fatigue IL. Another corre-
spondence of complaints begins and finally
ends at Warrenton, when the order comes
early IN November that sewers once and
for all McClellans connection with the
Army Of the Potomac. He had done much
to make ii, God knows. He was great as
an organizer and instructor He had the
faith and regard of most of the officers
and the love of all the men. 1t was in bat
tie and campaign that he failed them, not
they him, for mortal man had never deeper
devotion than was accorded Little Mac I'M
til he took the field Even now, this sad
November day. there are scores of officers
and soldiers whose faces are furrowed with
tears as they see him ride away. There
are many commands that would gladly
call him. There are regiments that could
not be made to cheer him after Antietam
that mourns his going now, even in the
hard-used First Corps. There are men
right here in the Iron Brigade who de-
plore the ordered separation, but there is a
higher power, a higher duty still. and, no
matter what may be the sorrow of this
parting the Army of the Potomac would
be faithless to Mcclellan and his teachings
were it not loyal to the COMMANDMENT
chief, the President of the United States.
Even in the bitterness of heart that must
accompany submission to his soldier fate.
Mcclellan himself strikes the keynote OF
that undmried, mistaken spirit of loyalty
above all things when he bids his old COM
rades farewell, and. in so doing, bids them
be as true to his successor as they had
ever been to him.
Changes, too, have occurred in many a
minor grade. The Fifth corps mourns the
loss of a brilliant, gifted, handsome SOL
der whose head is demanded as one re-
suit of the woeful mismaneuvers about
Manassas. Old names appear at the head
of grand divisions, as Burnside calls the
doubled corps. New names, comparative
ly, appear at corps headquarters New
brigadiers, full crop, ride up from the
roster of field officers. and not so many
now hail from the ranks of influential but
unskilled civilians. New regiments have
been grated on old brigades; new blood
injected into old and toug'hening veins. 1t
is high time our friends of the Iron name
had reinforcement, for, despite Wisconsin s
praiseworthy course of recruiting veteran
commands as well as raising new ones,
their ranks are wofully thin; so, as neither
Badger nor Hoosier regiment comes to
swell the army of the Potomac, there is as
signed to the old brigade, thereby assuring
its distinctive Western character, brand
new, ambitious and, as it turns out, most
pugnacious and fghtful array of wolver-
ines, "all teeth and toe-nais,' say the
Badgers, who take them under advisement,
and so the much-vaunted menagerie is
complete again.
Changes, too, have come to the staff.
and, to Benton's blushng delight, he is
called upon at Catletts TO wet" a new
eraI and heartily approved by the new
1t is Captain Benton. additional abide
camp now, and he rides for the time being
with a division commander famous for
staying qualities, if not for urbanity. a
man who is of the fight-to-a-finish mold.
and would hang every rebel from Maine
to Mexico. He is a fighter who knows
neither fear nor forgiveness and who takes
it amiss that one of his staff should mourn
much over the fate of a rebel in arms.
especially one who serves that archrebel
Ewell and has no earthly excuse for fight
ing at all. We have had few as vet of
these vehement patriots in high places.
We have had far too many, storms STAN
ton in Washington, of those who would
handle treason with gloves, furnish guards
for the homesteads of hard-ighting chiefs
on the Southern side, hold commerce and
communion through flags of truce with
former comrades across the lines 1--WE
must stop il, by heavenv says Stanton.
splitting a table top with one blow of his
fist. I'VE must drumhead and shoot 'em. -
| says Fred's new commander, and I'll hang
| the first man of my staff that catch -
1t must be owned that the general fights
| hard as he swears, which Is saying a good
| deal, and means no doubt very much OF
| what he says. He has heard much of Ben
ton as a gallant staff officer, eager, reliable
| tireless, fellow that never wears out
| The one thing against him is his training
| under that soft-sided senior of his
| (Freds original chieD and his own known
weakness for certain folks in rebellion
| ''He ought to be thankful Ladue's dead
| and buried" says this new leader of ar
| old division. "And for his Charlottes.
Vile friends. he'd better steer clear of 'en
all IL he doesn't court trouble with me-"
1.-The winter of our discomfort" indeed
| With gloomy heart and sad anticipation
Benton rides away through the leafies.
woods to the old familiar scenes about
/ Fredericksburg. Word from Washington
| has brought him little comfort. Rumor O.
| his commanders sayings has filled him Will
| foreboding. DIR. Chiffon, to whom he haC
written on almost any provocation and VIII,
| had gratefully and promptly answered hi
| Sharpsburg missive. giving young Pelham
| message now wrote not at all. He seems
| sad and brooding." said Jack, in the on
letter that young gentleman had manage,
| TO send through since his Incarceration
Jack was well enough to resume duty an,
| most eager for exchange, but negotiation
hung fire unaccountably, so said he, an,
Benton thought he knew the reason why
Lounsberry had been back again in Rich