The National tribune., 1904-09-01
the current and widely accepted views OF
the Bull Run campaign are more or less
"ON TO RICHMOND.

Richmond of which much has been
made.
There are several reasons for the vigor-
Gus belaboring which this ''On to Rich
mond'' has received. The first comes from
the Regular Army element. which makes
war as its business, processes contempt
for volunteers and militia, and wants TO
derogate them iii order To elevate itself.
Another came from the partsanS of Nc
Clelan, who strovp to excuse their chief
tain'S dilatoriness by enlarging upon the
evils of the "On TO Richmond precpit-
aucy-
As a matter OF undoubted fact. if the
eager young volunteers who hurried on TO
Washington to save the National Capital
had had a leader like Gen. Lyon. Grant or
Sheridan. they would have gone directly to
Richmond in June. and scattered the forces
of the rebellion aS successfully as ten
Lyon did those in Missouri. The men were
all right. All they lacked a leader OF
Gen. Lyons standard. They could have
done this AZ late aS tie first two weeks IN
July.
The trouble was that there was no mill
tary man in Washington capable of grasp
ing the situation The illu~triou> Gen.
Winfield Scott. who was then far advanced
in years. and whom everybody looked to.
had LOST the fire and ag"re>>iveneSS of his
earlier years. and had become aS slow as
the worst of the old Regulars He was look
ing forward to a war of three or four years,
and planning for il with slow deiIbera-
ton. ny preparing great columns of we'll
drilled soldiers To invade the South as one
country would prepare TO invade another
country. 1t is true. that his hand was
forced by the volunteers eager TO see Stry-
ice before they returned home. and by the
people at home wanting something definite
done The great mistake was that his hand
was not forced earlier. and that Il leader
adequate to the work had not been sent
forward with the troops month before
NrI)owpll advanced on BUll RIM
The selection of Mai. Mcdowell to COM
mand the forces immediately around Wash
ington and for Ma j.-Gen. Patterson TO com
mand the column n l1arper> Ferry were
good technical soldier. familiar with the
routine and red tape of the War Depart
ment. and punctiiouS in all things. Was
neither by temperament. education, or eX-
perence Il man IL put at the head of an
enthusiastic aSsemhlage of raw soldiers. and
get the best results out of them.
Gen. Patterson was man past middle
age Of great wealth and social position.
had had some military experience. but had,
even less than Mcdowell. the enterprise.
alertncSS. and aggression necessary for the
When Cen Scott was forced by the gem
eral public to do something. he made plans
worthy of his Younger days. and il must be
said that on paper McDowelI> plans We're
excellent. If they had been carried out as
have been imminent.
GEN. SCOTS PLAN.
Cen Scott's plan was for Gen Patterson
to move forward and keep the rebel force
under Gen. Joe Johnston III the Shenan-
doah busily employed that IL would
have time for nothing else. In the mean
while Gen Mcdowell was 20 move directly
from Washington with 4 force Of about
3J.UpO men and crush the rebel force under
ar.l
sensible. practical manuEtr~ which could
have succeeded under competent command
ers. Gen. Scott gave positive orders to
Gen. Patterson 10 move straight on ten
Joe Johnston. and by no means 10 let HIM
get away without a tat,le. tren. Patterson
with all his shortcomings. vas disposed 10
do this. and the testimony shows that he
was strongly set to attack Johnson IN
force, but that he was d>suaded by his
Chief-of-Statf Fitz-John Porter.
July Ia. he retreated with his army to
CharleStown, leaving Johnston to 20 where
he pleased.
Though the volunteers began arriving in
Washington as early as April - and were
eager for active service, there was little If
anything done toward forming them into
brigades and getting them acquainted with
their commanding officers, their officers
with them. and becoming used to acting to-
gether. This the first great blunder,
and one which the Regular Army writers
much said about the men being green and
unused to marching. about difficulty in get
ting any concerted movements executed.
about the utter insuthciency of the staff.
and those staff officers who were appointed
being unknown to the commands and the
commands unknown 20 them. This brings
the question right home-N hose fault was
IT. The military officers who were run
ming things in Washington had had those
men under their command during the long
months of May, June and two-thirdS OF
July. Why We're they not put INTO shape
for field service during all that time
There has been much decrial of McClel-
lan'S grand reviews but those military pa
geantS had the inestimiahic benefit Of max
ing the different regiments Of brigade ac-
F quainted with one anot ther. and with their
brigade commander and staff and Of teach
ing the brigade commander now 10 handle
his men as whole. Every officer high in
rank in Washington before the battle Of
Bull Run is blamaile that this was not
done.
REBELS WISER
The rebels were much wiser At the
very outset they began 10 organize their
regiments into strong brigades, AMI to
teach them TO move a trigades. They be-
gan the policy. which they steadily fol-
lowed during the war. Of opposing masses
to fractions and 70 which was due the
most of their victories. Their brigades
were always much stronger than our bri-
gade>. their divisions than our divisions
and their corps than our corps AT Get
tysburg, where the numbers were about
equal on both sides. they had their army
maSsed into three corps. while we had ours
scattered into seven. At Bull Run the
rebel brigades had from four 10 six regi
ments in brigade. Lons>treer. Stone
wall Jackson. Bonham Early. Bee, ElZey
and Barlow each had i've regiments.
The explanation why the troops were mol
given more preparation for field service
that Gen. Scott. WIKI the Regular
Army officers, did not intend 10 use th'
three months men for anything more thar
securing the safety Of the Capital They
would organize and drill The three year
men into Regulars. before they began an,
offensive movement This spirit domin
ated after Gen. Met lellan superseded Gen
Scott and caused the Fall AMI Winter Il
be let pass away without any forwart
movement. although the rebels actually ad
yanced TO within cannon shot of the Capt.
toll. and erected batteries along the Po
toInac.
The infinite harm of This was that il al
lowed the rebellion to grow rapidly. an'
sweep into ii hundreds OF thousands o