The National tribune., 1909-09-23

| made
of the single line of rail on which wa
mt an engine and three or four car!
brought from Washington, and when
was apparent that the enemy had fount
our weak spot by F'itZ Lees cavalry raif
around our lines and Lee tRobert h.
was moving to take and destroy ouI
| line of supply, there was nothing els'
| to be done but seek a new base of sup
ply, beyond reach of the rebels or
James River; either this or chance the
taking of Richmond with the amount
of supplies on hand, probably 10 days
McClellan'S move was necessary, anC
was skilfully and successfully made. the
accidents of war being in his favor, the
accident referred to being the distrusi
of Gen. Summer of his Corps Quarter
master, and his putting of his entire
transportation under the command of a
green, back-country frontier volunteer
with instructions to keep everything out
of the way, as he (Sumner) had to
bring up the rear, and the prompt
energetic action of the greenhorn, who
knew little of army ways and gave no
thought to the impudence of demand
ing a detail of 500 men to report to
him for extra duty, but who got them
and cleared off before breakfast an
obstruction of quarter of a mile across
White Oak Swamp. intended by the
rebels to delay the army transportation
until Jackson could get on our flank
with one of his impetuouS attacks.
Stonewall got there, as ordered but
the rear was out of reach, and McClel-
Ian held Nelson's Farm and the favor
able position on Malvern Hill, which
gave the decisive advantage in position
and rendered the attack of drunken
Magruder disaster to Lees army
which Mcclellan did not take advan-
tage of. Why? Because he could not.
The supplies he had in his teams did
not warrant an advance away from any
base he hoped to establish on James
River. In making the move from the
Chickahominy he had been obliged to
destroy several days rations and large
amount of ammunition, and a new base
Iof supplies must be established before
he dare assume the aggressive. That
was the first principle of military sci
ence. Food and ammunition must be
at hand.
Malvern Hill.
You write of Lees monumental
blunder at Malvern HilI," which 1
think is an error The disaster to the
rebel army at Malvern is not justly at
tributable to Lee, but to drunken Ma
gruder-the same, l suppose, who was
Lieutenant of Cavalry at Fort Smell
ing in 1853, and who was sent with a
squadron to drive 16 Chippewa muir
derers, who had fired on and killed a
Sioux woman as she was entering
Forbes's store on Third street, st. Paul,
home to their place on the st. Croix,
and who killed one by a pistol shot,
whose scalp was taken by Little Grow.
and paraded thru the streets of St.
Paul, riding behind one of Magruder's
cavalrymen.
AS to the removal of the rebel OBJ
struction at White Oak Swamp. quar-
ter of mile of very heavy timber felled
across the stone road to the little bridge,
quote from "Recollections of a Quar-
termaster" and the Narrative of Chap
lain NeiIl:
THE trains being again in motion, /
went forward until the swamp was
reached just at daylight. 1 saw an ar
tillery caisson, to which four horses
were attached, and the drivers could
get the discouraged team to move only
few yards at a time, thru mud up to
the axle. 1t was evidently impossible
to get an army train thru that swamp,
and 1 ordered wagonmasters to park
their trains in an open field which in
clined toward the swamp and to feed
their animals. Then / rode back to a
camp of Engineers. and had the sentry
wake the officer in command of the
party. He told me he had been sent to
make bridge across the stream suit
able Tor the heavy artillery, which, he
said, could never get to any bridge thru
that swamp; that there was a good
stone road across the swamp, but the
rebels had felled great trees on it the
entire length; that he had some axes in
pontoon by the bridge; that his men
had been overworked, but he would
bring them and work on the bridge as
soon as they could get breakfast; that
a general officer had encamped with
troops on the other side.
rode back. struggled thru the swamp,
saw the camp of Gen. Morrill,, who was
awakened with difficulty to listen to my