CHAP. VII. W. R. Part I., W. R. p. 234. McClellan to Halleck, 1862. Ibid., Meantime McClellan was slowly approaching. He felt, of course, the need of more troops. With an Vol. XIX., army and trains about him so enormous that, as he says in his report, they would occupy fifty miles of road in marching order, he still paused on the 10th to write to General Halleck, begging for reënforcements. He first assures him that the capital is in no danger and that all the troops there may safely be sent to him; but in order to guard against any possible rejoinder he adds, "Even if Washington should be taken while these armies are confronting each other, this would not, in my judgment, bear comparison with the ruin and disaster which would pp. 254, 255. follow a signal defeat of this army," an opinion which has no especial value except as showing what General McClellan's judgment was worth in such a matter. Except when he was in Washington, he always regarded its possible capture as a trifling affair. But his demand was complied with: Porter's corps was ordered to join him with a kind message from the President, which he acknowVol. XIX., ledged courteously, and then-asked for the remainder of Keyes's corps! He was in no haste; he ordered his officers beforehand to avoid collisions. He attempted in his report to account for his tardy marching on the ground that the authorities at Washington wished him not to go too far from the capital. General Halleck says that no order capable of bearing this construction was ever given. He says: "I telegraphed him that Halleck, he was going too far, not from Washington, but Report from the Potomac. .. I thought he should keep of the War. more upon the Potomac and press forward his left Part I., rather than his right, so as more readily to relieve W. R. Part II., p.255. Testimony, Committee on Conduct p. 452. Harper's Ferry, which was the point then in most CHAP. VII. immediate danger." 1862. But two days after the above-mentioned letter asking for reënforcements, McClellan received information which was enough to put a soul of enterprise into the veriest laggard that ever breathed. There never was a general so fruitlessly favored by fortune as McClellan, and never was such a piece of good luck offered, even to him, as that which fell into his hands on the 13th of September. He had been advancing in his leisurely manner from Washington on parallel roads, making only about six miles a day, when on the 13th he arrived at Frederick and one of his officers brought to him Lee's special order of the 9th, that a private soldier had found, containing his entire plan of campaign. By this he learned that his enemy was before him, a day's march away; that Lee's whole force was inferior to his own; and that it was divided into two portions, one in camp near Boonsboro' and vol. XIX., the other besieging Miles at Harper's Ferry. It is not too much to say that his enemy had been delivered into his hands. After he had read this order an immediate contest between him and Lee, other things being equal, would have been like a fight between a man blindfolded and one having use of his eyes. He not only knew of the division of his enemy's army in half, but he knew where his trains, his rear-guard, his cavalry, were to march and to halt, and where the detached commands were to join the main body.' 1 General Palfrey's criticisms pression of conclusions arrived of McClellan in this campaign at with deliberation by one who are entitled to careful study. began as a passionate enthusiast They are, as he says, "The ex- for him, who has made his cam W. R. Part I., pp. 42, 43. CHAP. VII. 1862. 1 He seemed to appreciate the importance of his discovery, but it was not in his nature to act promptly enough. Franklin was at Buckeystown, about twelve miles east of South Mountain, a prolongation northward of the Blue Ridge, beyond which Lee's army lay. Instead of giving him immediate orders to march with all possible speed to Harper's Ferry, he wrote at his leisure a long and judicious instruction directing him to march to that point the next day. The weather was perfect; the roads were in good order. McClellan knew there was no enemy between him and Crampton's Gap. Every possible consideration urged him to make use of every instant of time.2 The precious opportunity was neglected, and it was noon the next day, the 14th of September, when Franklin stormed the crest of the mountain after a brilliant and easy victory over General Cobb's detachment of McLaws's division, which had been left to guard paigns the subject of much study 1 He telegraphed to the Presi- 2"If he had thrown forward his army with the vigor used by Jackson in his advance on Harper's Ferry, the passes of South Mountain would have been carried before the evening of the 13th, at which time they were very feebly guarded; and then, debouching into Pleasant Valley, the Union commander might next morning have fallen upon the rear of McLaws at Maryland Heights and relieved Harper's Ferry, which did not surrender till the morning of the 15th. But he did not arrive at South Mountain until the morning of the 14th, and by that time the Confederates, forewarned of his approach, had recalled a considerable force to dispute the passage."-Swinton, "Army of the Potomac," p. 202. BATTLE OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN, SEPTEMBER 14, 1862. POSITIONS AT FOX'S AND TURNER'S GAPS. 6-Opposite page 136. |