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The army of the Potomac.
One the most dismal and discouraging pictures of the war is that developed officially in the Senate on Wednesday. These facts have already been laid before the public through our columns; but now that they are officially promulgated, they must strike the loyal people with double force.--The at my of the Potomac was originally 230,000 strong. Prior to the 5th of April, according to the testimony of the Assistant Secretary of War, Tucker, McClellan had 120,000 men at Yorktown. Subsequently, Franklin's division, 12,000; McCall's division, 10,000; 11,000 from Baltimore and Fortress Monroe, and Shield's division, 5,000, were sent to him, making a total of 158,000, Generals Meigs and Wadsworth testified that McClellan had all be asked for. Only nineteen regiments were left to guard Washington. The correspondent of the Commercial telegraphs that the responsibility for Bal Bluff is divided between Stone and McClellan; yet Stone was sent to Fort Warren, while McClellan has been suffered to hold in his hands the destinies of this great nation. It is known that the President said, on his return from James river, that McClellan could account for only half the men sent to him Of the 158,000 brave men he had upon the Peninsula only 85,000 were effective when the battles commenced, and when he finally landed on James river, only 60,000 could be mustered for active duty. Thus, from the time he landed at Yorktown to the beginning of the great battles, he lost, it seems, in various ways, 78,000; and between the landing and the close of the seven days fighting, 98,000 out of the 158,000 had been killed, had died in the swamps, or had by sickness been rendered unfit for service. These are the facts as they are now before the country. The picture, we repeat, is the most dismal and discouraging that could be presented. It is sickening to think that the finest army that the world ever saw should have been thus sacrificed and nothing accomplished. The developments relieve Secretary Stanton from the charges made against him by the partisans of a General who has in less than a year lost nearly 100,000 out of 230,000 men, without accomplishing anything; leaving the, rebels stronger and the Government weaker in Eastern Virginia than they were six months ago. And we have authority for saying that Secretary Stanton stands higher with the President now than at any previous time, sad experience having made plain the wisdom of the policy and the plans that he favored. The people who have been missed by a blind or unscrupulous press, will not be slow to do injustice to Mr. Stanton. He will rise higher in the estimation of the loyal people from the gross and undeserved abuse which has been heaped upon him. In view of the facts presented, it is not strange that the people should demand a new war policy.--It would be strange, indeed it would be criminal, if the voice of the people did not rattle, in thunder tones, around the ears of the President, for new men to direct affairs in the field, and new measures to govern the conduct of the war.
The Daily Dispatch: August 28, 1862. Richmond Dispatch. 2 pages. by Cowardin & Hammersley. Richmond. August 28, 1862. microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mi : Proquest. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm.
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