The National tribune., 1907-11-14
HOOKER ON MCCLELLAN,
An unpub1ished Letter From Gen. Joe
Hooker, Commenting ON the Peninsu-
lar CampaIgn.

Camp James River. Va. July 4
Is6z.-Hon. j. W. Nesmith: Dear Mes
have been anxious to write you for a
long time, but the press of official du-
ties and their character have prevented
me from writing anyone. Since the Is,
Of June my life has been filled with
events which have alike absorbed my
| time and thoughts. Since that date ur
to the Sd inst scarcely day has passed
/ that / have not exchanged shots with
the enemy. Oftentimes they were mere
ly affairs between the pickets, but some
times 1 have had great battles to fight
| From some cause the lions share OF
the heavy work of this army has been
thrown on my division. You will know
how well it has been discharged when
l tell you that 1t Is the only division
in the Army OF the Potomac that has
uniformly slept on the field on which il
fought, and l have been engaged with
| fearful odds against me.
| AS you well know, our line Of opera
tions has been transferred from York
| to James River. always dangerous
move to make in the face of a superior
force, and we have not accomplished
lit without fearful sacrifices. We were
compelled to abandon our wounded and
sick and destroy vast amounts of pub
lie property. Our losses in battle have
been no greater than We had reason
to expect-perhaps from that cause,
the sick and stragglers, our numbers
are reduced no doubt 10000 from what
they were when we started. Constitut-
ed as this army is. incompetent officers
exercising the highest commands, the
transfer to James River was the only
alternative that remained to Mcclellan.
1t was repugnant to me, for l would
sooner die game than retrograde step
except from compulsion. After the enc
m hn OF Inro pnIt to r
tack Mccall and Porter, my plan would
have been to have dashed for the city.
At that moment I held the advance of
the army, and was within five miles of
his Capital, but / was not consulted
and it may be well was not. Porter's
battle, of which the newspapers are
full, was a disaster, or if not that, the
next thing to it. He lost 20 pieces of
artillery and between 5000 and 1000
prisoners. What will be done next God
only knows. We have large army
here, well found in artillery and other
respects, and yet it is held on the de-
fensive. 1t seems to want vitality and
energy. 1t was disciplined too near
Washington City to be successful with
out great changes in IFS officers high in
rank-chanses too great to expect. /
must say, / look for no great results
from this army, no matter how much
it may be reinforced. 1t is not numbers
that is to decide the fate of this rebel
lion. / only regret that ever saw the
Army of the Potomac. Had / gone
to the South or West 1 might have done
something worthy of being remembered
learn that Mcclellan speaks kindly of
me now; IL 50, it has been extorted from
him. He attempted to ignore the bat
tie of Williamsburg. which had he
turned 1t to the proper account would
have enabled us to have been in Rich
mond 10 days afterward. This is true.
We are now reaping the fruit of his
delay at Yorktown, and of his mistake
at Williamsburg. He invested York
town when ii had but 5000 men there,
and at Williamsburg he permitted the
flower of their army to escape when
with single division I held it four and
20 hours. Since we landed on the
Peninsula the enemy has had time to
create an army to place his Capital in
an almost impregnable condition.
Hope you are well.
Truly yours,
Joseph Hooker.