[344]
Potomac on that occasion, that matchless chieftain, General George B. McClellan--[cheers lasting several minutes],--I do not blame you for your enthusiasm,--General George B. McClellan, has honored you with his presence.
If you will keep still for a moment, I have no doubt he will speak to you.
General McClellan replied, as follows:--
my friends and comrades:--I came here not to make a speech to you, but to welcome you home, and express to you the pride I have always felt in watching your career, not only when you were with me, but since I left the Army of the Potomac, while you have been fighting battles under others, and your old commander.
I can tell you now, conscientiously and truly, I am proud of you in every respect.
There is not one page of your record — not a line of it — of which you, your State, and your country may not be proud.
I congratulate you on the patriotism that so many of you have evinced in your desire to re-enter the service.
I hope, I pray, and I know that your future career will be as glorious as your past.
I have one other hope; and that is that we may yet servo together some day again.
Loud cheers followed the conclusion of this speech, and officers and men cried out, “We'll follow you anywhere, general!”
After a speech from
Major Harkins,
General McClellan took leave with a few words of farewell, the soldiers cheering and crowding round him as he went out of the room.
General McClellan has recently appeared before the public, with much honor to himself, in a literary capacity.
In the autumn of 1863, the officers
