McClellan for peace. [from the Baltimore sun, January 11, 1904.]
For the restoration of the Union against the political Horde at Washington.[The following is of interest in connection with the preceding articles.—Ed.] The following communication addressed to a gentleman in Baltimore, makes a very interesting contribution to the political history of the Civil War to the effect that General McClellan in 1862 sought an interview with General Lee with the supposed purpose of making peace over the heads of the governments at Washington and Richmond:
[The conjecture to which the receipt of a letter by General Lee from General McClellan gave rise—that it was desired by the latter to end the war by forcible means, ousting the politicians in control at Washington—is a very suggestive one. It is well-known that General McClellan distrusted the patriotism and good faith of the administration. He had not been supported with reinforcements at the critical moment in the operations in front of Richmond, and the failure of his peninsula campaign was due, in his opinion, to the unwillingness of the designing politicians at Washington to see a Democrat gain the prestige and political influence that a decisive victory at Richmond would have given him. His army had been virtually taken away from him after the ‘change of base’ to James river, and given to Pope, with the result that it was badly beaten in the second battle of Manassas. Only when General Lee crossed the Potomac into Maryland and his advance upon Washington was feared, was General McClellan again placed in command to save the situation—which he did at Antietam by causing General Lee to recross the Potomac. Soon after that action General McClellan was again deprived of his command, for the reason, it was believed in 1862, that a general was wanted who preferred the success of the Republican party to the restoration of the Union. Whether this belief was or was not correct it is unnecessary to consider, but it is undeniable that in the presidential campaign of 1864 General Mc-Clellan was prevented by force and fraud from receiving the votes cast for him. In the earlier elections of 1862 on the ‘stop-the-war’ issue a number of the leading Northern States gave large Democratic majorities. It was, therefore, not difficult for General Cobb and General Longstreet in 1862 to believe that in proposing an interview after the battle of Antietam General McClellan had it in mind to restore the Union by united action of the two chief armies, in defiance of politicians who were supposed to have only party interests in view. General Lee, it will be noted, is said to have declined to meet General McClellan, so that it was not definitely ascertained what the [48] latter meant to discuss. The Confederate general was averse to dealing with political topics. General Sherman is said to have similarly declined an offer of a Governor of Georgia to initiate negotiations for the restoration of peace.—Ed. Sun.]
