The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1907-05-16

BRIG Gen. IRWIN MCDOWELL.
the Capital. They could be employed
| in standing guard and building forts,
nothing more. He did not even want
Mcdowell to be sent across the river
to command them, but preferred in
stead that it should be given to Maj
Gen. Sanford, of the New York Mill
tia, whom he disliked and wanted out
of Washington. He even went so far
| as to send his Aid twice and his Mill
| tary Secretary once to Mcdowell to
make a personal request not to be as
signed to duty in Virginia. Mcdowell
| did not want to offend his chief any
worse than he had, but still less did
he think it seemly for him, Immediate
ly upon his promotion, to try to evade
the first duty assigned. Nor did he
take kindly to Gen. SCOTS purpose to
appoint him to command the great
column to move from st. Louis to New
Orleans. When he was brought be-
fore the Cabinet for his opinion as to
this expedition he spoke plainly against
it, as his conscience dictated that he
should, and pronounced it full of the
most serious and vital objections. 1
would rather go to New Orleans the
way that Buckingham attempted to go
there" This still further embittered
the relations between the General-in-
Chief and the man whom Scott felt
that he had largely MADE.
Mismanagement of Volunteers.
Under the inspiration of the Regular
Army officers, and particularly of the
Mcclellan coterie, the historians since
the war have constantly dwelt with
great emphasis upon the unprepared-
ness of the army which Gen. Mcdowell
led to Bull Run, and we have had
worlds without end of severe lectures
l,,nop e6itnrS and poIitjcianS who Nonl1
force the hands of the commanding
officers and thereby bring disaster. All
this volume of talk has less than the
usual basis of justification by facts. AS
we have seen before, the militia be-
gan to arrive in Washington on the
18th of April, and by the middle of
May a force much larger than had
ever been seen before in any OF the
country's previous wars had gathered
at Washington. 1t is true that these
men were only enlisted for three
months, but nearly all the regiments
had leaven of organization in the
militia companies, and if they had
been taken hold of by a man of vehe-
ment purpose, like Gen. Lyon in St
Louis, the largest results were posi-
BILE. The men were young, enthusiasts
tic, eager to learn, and had left their
homes expecting to march directly into
battle. Nothing less would have in
duced them to come out as they did.
They had gathered much more prompt
ly and in larger numbers than the
Richmond Government had been able
to gather its troops in front of Wash
lngton. By the LIST of June there was
only thin line Of Confederates stretch
ing from Aqua Creek by the way of
Manassas Junction to Har1er's Ferry.
1t was nowhere very strong, and any
officer of energy and determination
could have readily massed a division
of good men to break ii by a prompt
advance upon any part of 1t. This is
what the volunteers had expected, what
they had enlisted for, what they want
ed to do, and what their friends at
home were watching the papers daily
for them to do. Instead of being en-
ployed in this natural, common-scnse
way, some scores of regiments were
sent out to hold the short line of some
eight or 10 miles reaching from Chain
Bridge, above Washington, to the hills