New-York tribune., 1909-05-16
II.

treat ~t vE-e,sbippton to an extent which few
deHnefa'l1 The degree of the Generalization
ren'ei.9s- ,,,er he measured by the reappoint-
Hay General Mcclellan to the command OF
Theh' oe the Potomac and of Virginia In
hie 60 of any general whose name IN
wv confidence, General Mcclellan was
FL. g synonym of safety, or at any rate OF
- -, and he had not wholly lost the cehh-
'a"u0- his man. He was not expected TO en-
y ,,,on large operations
snesgement near Washington was now
,bought probable. On a hint from
e'Fi' ,,.55ciaI I rode out one afternoon from
L--,4,gton army headquarters, expecting TO
-..y At NEST day two My luggage
p - Of n macintosh and a tooth brush
. go. absent six weeks. But this was not so
!, sounds. for Maryland was coun-
t, which. even with war afoot, it was
u ,,e n buy things In the interval, had
.,,o battles: South Mountain and Antie-
.bic, came as near to being real Var as
:, 10 expected under General Mcclellan.
'0a---,snondents were not now allowed with the
IN the field any more than IN General
.s fine We were contraband. But so long
- Welded nominally TO the inhibition OF the
,r.. Office nobody seemed to care The war
So v-ss then named Edwin NJ. stanton To
-. 5sv have never been able to understand
.., stanton-a man all energy, directness u
,,s and purpose scorning compromise ana nan
sssuras and scorning those who practseu
-. -an,e 10 assent TO the replacing of Cen
era1 Mcclellan at the head Of the Army OF tle
vo.o,ac But he did, and at first Mcclellan
sssped to Justify the new hopes newly placed IN
aim He might have sat still, but after pro
,+5ipe for the defence of Washington he moved
:. ,,nor an aggressive defensive campaign
- had entered Maryland and Mcclellan went
An search of him He moved slowly, but he
moved. His soldiers, so far as 1 could Judge
believed in him. in spite of his disasters IN the
Peninsula. His generals, think dld not. sd"
and talked with some Of them. for | found my
self making this campaign as q volunteer aide
5e-csT7n 10 General Sedgwick ! had met Gen
ersI Sedgwick before, and when / had 10 con-
slider how / was 10 get leave to 20 with the
troops I went to General Sedgwick and told nm
my difficulty Come along with me- he salo-
That Was all the appointment 1 had. It would
not have been possible in European army, but
in the armies Of the Union many things were
possihle And it was quite sufficient 70 take me
outside Of Stanton's order about correspondents
was not 2 correspondent: I was one OF General
SedEvick's aids His kindness TO me was ser
vice for which I could never he too grateful
II was still greater service. because Seds-
wick belonged to the category Of fighting gen
erals: who were none too popular with the gen
ersl commanding. since he mixing politics with
var. believed in half beating the enemy. Sedg-
wick so far as I know. had no politics. Ger
ts,nly he had none in the field. He was there
te fight not TO build bridges over which the
Rebels might come hack into the Union. It
had become known that Lee had entered Mary
land 70 enable her people ito throw off for
eign yoke" He was not, it turned out, a
Haaf1
much Obliged TO him if he had stayed on the
other side of the Potomac Mcclellan. taking
time te think things over. and perhaps not lk-
ing to De considered q foreign yoke, advanced
toward Frederick Lees headquarters, for the
moment, a. the break-neck pace Of six or seven
miles day. I suppose Mcclellan must have
known that Lee wanted Harpers Ferry. But
even afte- Lees general order had come into
his possession, with specific directions for the
movement Of each division, Mcclellan hesitated
snd finally took the wrong road,
Hence the battle of South Mountain; a pictu-
rescue performance part OF which I watched
by the side of General Mcclellan himself At
the moment, he was quite alone; his staff away
carrying orders; an officer now and then re-
turning only 10 lie sent Off again at once. The
general presently saw that stranger was
standing near him and asked a question or two
offered him my field glasses. but he said he
could see very We'll and declined them
There in his appearance something pre-
possessing if not commanding: something
rather scholarly than warlike: amable, well
bred; cold, and yet almost sympathetic. His
troops were slowly forcing their way up the
steep mountain side upon which we looked. It
vas, in fact, from military point of view.
very critical moment. but this general com
had sir rp1ria ali aF al
most that of q disinterested spectator: or Of
general watching maneuvres. The business Of
war seemed to be to him merely what Iago
calls "the bookish theorie'; and he himself "a
great arithmetician." He had the face Of a
man Of thought. Napoleonie, said his fdolaters,
who called him the young Napoleon: not con-
Eidering dates, or not aware that when Ma
poleon planned and won his great italian cam
paign. masterpiece of war, he was twenty
seven. When Mcclellan planned and lost his
Peninsula campaign he thirty-seven. But
there he stood; an interesting figure: as If star
gazing. Compact, square chested; his face wei
moulded. That hs was directing the assault OF
the forces struggling up yonder hill no human
being could have guessed Whether his tailor
had been too stingy in the material of his uni
form. or nature too lavish in the contents of II,
be was uncomfortable; he and his clothes did
cot seem made for each other There were
wrinkles There was q missing button; nor was
be q well set up figure. It may well enough
have been because of his military career. but 1
thought an air of indecision hung about him.
Men had died by hundreds and were yet TO die
because he could not make up his mind nor
push an attack home. They were dying now
rs he looked on: they lay dying and dead on
the opposite slope: for when he had at last
made up his mind he had made 1t up wrong
The battle Of South Mountain was victory, in
sense. but il need never have been fought