THE REMOVAL OF MCCLELLAN.
103
equally evident that the duty of providing thesees sei)tiai supplies rested with the administrativeservices in Washington ; that some of the suppliesl d not reach the troops for a long time,| and thateertain subordinate chiefs were at least indulged inspending an amount of energy in combating theearnest representations that came pouring in from® army on the held; that they, or some one, might, have been required to devote to the task ofseeing that the supplies reached the troops whoeded them, instead of resting content with per-Uuctory declarations that the stores had ‘ ‘ beensent.” Nor cau aiiy commander of an army ber aiUe d for not liking this. The wonder is, that ain ■ ,ourue y a few I lours should have stoodway of a complete understanding and swifteinedy, on one side or the other.
resident Lincoln visited General McClellan onelstof October, and went over the battle-fieldsputh Mountain, Crampton’s Gap, and Antietamth C01n pany. When the President left him on6 4th, General McClellan appears to have beener the impression that his military acts andat tt* Were satisfactory. J) What these plans were .0 f , . ti'ne, beyond the reorganizationandrefittingca ^ lls ar my, in the absence of direct evidence, onea u conjecture from a passage that occurs inP^ate letter dated October 2d, printed in “ Mc-^ an ’s Own Story” (p. 654). “His [the Presi-th v os ^ eils r^ , l e purpose is to see the troops andPnr j I incline to think that the real
Pose of his visit is to push on into a prematureinto Virginia . . . . The real truth is
the ^ army 110 ^ *° a< lvance.” \ However, on
6 Oth, two days after Mr. Lincoln’s departure,e^eral Halleck telegraphed to General McClellan :
nu ( i*~3 e -President directs that you cross the Potomaca r , ® lve battle to the enemy or drive him south. Yourcross I?’ 18 '. 1,10ve now, while the roads are good. If youcover f 6 ,av< r between the enemy and Washington andf oro „ , e hatter by your operation, you can he rcen-Sh e] j., witl ‘ 30 > 000 men. If you move up the valley of theto y^^doah, not more than 12,000 or 15,000 can he sent'l aslr ’ J President advises the interior line betweenVery and the enemy, but does not order it. He is
osirous that your army move as soon as possible.”
v ou^ aei " a ^ ^Clellan at first selected the valleyIjf e ’ ^ u t the tardy delivery of supplies delayedMovement, and when he began crossing the
i Tw
Sn.11^tlic statement of General Rutiis In-to , n ' Official Records,” Vol. XIX., Part I., p. 95) seemsW [ Couc lusivo, although the contrary view is strongly
i “ w autllority - “ K - B. I.
V(5 *&efi f S1>eut *o«io time on the battle-field and eon-oi 011 ^ l0 H tatc of affairs. lie told me that hedone- fi lre]y Ha t‘istii'd with me and with all that I hadthat h • lle would stand hy me against ‘all comers’;
(1 vi «luwl me to continue my preparations fora"When lUl>ai S n » not to stir an inch until fully ready, andhe w hat I thought best. lie repeated tliat
aioi le . Jfftirely satisfied with me; that I should he letla °ant 1 l51 ^ * le would stand hy mo. I. have no doubt hethe llt ^-t!y what he said. lie parted from me with®aith»» n r ^ cordiality. We never met again on this\ p L l Mc Clelhm’s Own Story,” pp. 627, 628.]1 ' (ia dii l0 eSl< ^ eu *’ bincoln’s views as to the comparativeihay to ln °ve of the Federal and Confederate armies
^ c -lclh 01111(1 tersely expressed in his letter to General'A Aiy 11 ’ ^ a ^ 0(l October 13th, 1862, printed on p. 105.^oog other things, Stuart crossed the Potomac
Potomac on the 25th and advanced a few dayslater, the circumstances had somewhat changed.^Then, leaving the Twelfth Corps to hold HarpersPerry, he marched down the eastern side of theBlue Ridge , as the President had originally desired,picked up the Third and Eleventh corps and Bay-ard’s division of cavalry on striking the railwayopposite Thoroughfare Gap, and on the 5th ofNovember made his headquarters at Rectortown,with all his arrangements in progress for concen-trating the army near Warrenton.
This movement in effect (although General Mc-Clellan does not appear to have known it definitelyuntil three days later) placed the Army of thePotomac, with a force double that of the Army ofNorthern Virginia, ^ between the two halves of thatarmy, farther separated by the Blue Ridge ; for Lee,with Longstreet’s corps, had moved to Culpeper assoon as it was seen that McClellan was advancingeast of the Blue Ridge , & and Jackson 'was still inthe Shenandoah, distant several days’ march.
On that very day, November 5th, the President,with his own hand, wrote the following order:
“Executive Mansion,Washington , , 186 .
“ By direction of the President it is ordered that Major-General McClellan be relieved from the command of theArmy of the Potomac, and that Major-General Burnsidetake command of that army. Also that Major-GeneralHunter take command of the corps in said army nowcommanded by General Burnside.
“That Major-General Fitz John Porter be relievedfrom the command of the corps lie now commands insaid army, and that Major-General Hooker take com-mand of said corps.
“The general-in-chief is authorized, in [his] discretion,to issue an order substantially as the above, forthwithor as soon as he may deem proper.
“November 5th, 1862.”
Forthwith the following orders -were issued:
“Headquarters of the Army,
Washington , November 5th, 1862.
“Major-General McClellan , Commanding, etc.—General : On receipt of the order of the President, sentherewith, you will immediately turn over your com-mand to Major-General Burnside, and repair to Trenton ,N. J. , reporting, on your arrival at that place, by tele-graph, for further orders.
“Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
“ II. W. Halleck,
“ General-in-Chief.”
at Williamsport on the 10th of October, on bis famousraid into Maryland and Pennsylvania , rode completelyround the rear of the Army of the Potomac, and, eludingPleasonton’s vigorous but ineffectual pursuit, safelyrecrossed the river near the mouth of the Monoeacy.One effect of this raid on the mind of the President isindicated in an anecdote related in “ Washington underBanks, ” Vol. II. of this work, p. 544.— R. B. I.
J The “Official Records” show that McClellan ’s effect-ive force was about 145,000, Lee’s about 72,000. Long-street and Jackson each bad about 32,000.— R. B. I.
J, Lee’s orders for Longstreet’s movement are datedOctober 28tli. The Army of the Potomac had not then•finished crossing the river.— R. B. I.
u It is virtually certain that General McClellan neversaw this order, which, in the form as written by thePresident, was never promulgated. General Hunterwas not placed in command of Burnside’s corps. Hookerwas ordered to relieve Porter hy Special Orders from theWar Department, Adjutant-General’s Office, dated No-vember lOtli, 1862.