Year: 1862

TAe Disaster st Fredsrickssurg.


The Drowning evidence demonstrating Geas-
raj McClellan's sagscity as a general and the
imbecilky Of the military bureau a. Washing
ton, consisting of Halleck. Stanton d Co., who
undertake TO fight battles by telegraph City
or Q hundred miles distant, q the terrible
disaster at fredericksburg on Saturday, and
the consequent humiliating retreat across
the Rappahannock on Monday night in the
darkness and storm. For this blunder our
fine army has paid the penalty by the
loss Of many thousands of lives. The route by
Fredericksburg was chosen against the best
military Judgment Of the country, and the bat
tie Of Saturday is said 70 have been fought
against the opinion Of ell or nearly all the
Union generals who participated in it. The
orders from the lawyers at Washington were
imperative, and the impregnable hills must be
stormed at any sacrifice Of life. The tremen-
dous advantages Of the enemy may be estimated
from his comparatively small loss, stated by
General Lee, in bis despatch from the battle
field next day. to be only 5000 killed and
wounded; and probably it would not have
exceeded / 900, but that the rebel right wing.


N the beginning Of the fight, came down boldly
10. the plain to attack the Union left, under
Franklin. Who're the enemy kept to his de-
fences his loss was very trivial. The vast dis
parity in the numbers Of our killed and
wounded. amounting to ten or twelve thousand,
tells the whole tale, considering that, ON fair
field, the Union troops always fight better than
the insurgents, and that their small arms, can
non and ammunition are entirely superior TO
those Of the enemy. The folly of the assault
on Fredericksburg is thus demonstrated to the
meanest understanding.


Mcclellan always insisted that the James
river was the true basis for operations against
the rebel capital. The recent events at Frede-
ricksburg prove he was right, and corroborate
with fearful effect the testimony in the case of
the court of inquiry into the conduct of Nc
Dowell. The official dispatches between the
government, Mcclellan and Mcdowell. have
put the saddle upon the right horse. It
appears from the evidence that Mcdowell
whom many supposed to be responsible for the
failure to reinforce Mcclellan is entirely guilt
less in the whole transaction. The campaign
was controlled directly from Washington.


It seems that cowardly fear for themselves
haunted the authorities at the capital, and
that they deemed the security Of their persons
of greater importance than the safety Of the
army and the safety Of the Union ITSELF Sup
pose Washington were captured for the mo-
ment that would be Of no account compared
with the destruction Of tho rebel army, which
would have inevitably resulted in the recapture
of the capital and the restoration of all the
rebellious States Of the South. But General
McClellans testimony shows that "the troops
actually left in Washington and in front of it
disposabls for its defence were rather more
than double the garrison fixed by the engineer
and artillery officers, and considerably more
than the largest number recommended by any
Of the corps commanders to be left in the vi
little real danger Of Washington being taken
Is there was of London or st. Petersburg. The
peril consisted in meddliug with the plan Of the
campaign, and wilfully and deliberately pre-
venting the junction of corps essential to the
success Of the movement against Richmond up
the peninsula. As General Mcclellan said in
his despatch to General Halleck, the true place
James river; and had McClellan's army been
captured, as it narrowly escaped being, in con-
sequence Of the cooperation of Nc
Dowell's army being prevented, the gov
ernment at Washington would have found
out their error when it would have been too
late; for in that event neither Mcdowell nor all
the reserves at the federal capital could have
averted the catastrophe.


The first fatal blunder was the separation OF
McDowell's corps from the Army of the Poto-
mac, contrary to the distinct understanding Of
Mcclellan when he left for the battle field.
The next blunder committed was in the manner
Of rectifying the first. The War Department
found out its egregious mistake; but, instead
of sending McDowell's corps to the army from
which it was so fooishly separated, it sent
it half way. 1t was sent to Fredercks-
burg. General Halleck-a San Francisco law
yer-in his report admits the blunder but he
did nothing to remedy it, being either COM
pletely under the control of the War Depart
ment, and yielding up his judgment to another
California lawyer, who understood less of
military affairs than himself, or not knowing
enough of his other profession to see the danger
which Mcclellan SO earnestly and so eloquently
pointed out. Instead Of applying the proper
remedy he made matters worse, and played
once more into the hands Of the rebels by the
defeat Of another army, which was ultimately
saved from complete destruction, and with it
the capital Of the nation, by the man who has
been ostracsed to q New Jersey village.
Jackson, in the Shenandoah valley, with
comparatively small force, 80 worked upon the
fears Of the authorities at Washington that he
paralyzed $4,000 men-4o,OOo in front of the
capital and 10000 under Mcdowell. The willy