Our readers have been so long accustomed to
McClellan's peculiar strain of mendacity, that they will not be surprised to hear that his last effort has surpassed all his former.
He is indeed an improving man. Each succeeding lie, from
York to
Berkley, overtopped its immediate predecessor.
We should say that his genius had culminated in his present effort; but we dare not venture to prescribe limits to an indignation which scams boundless, or to predict what the next flight may be.
He tells the
Yankee Secretary of War that in the campaign of
Maryland he killed; wounded and made prisoners 30,000 rebels, of whom 18,000 were killed and wounded at
Sharpsburg.
That on the latter field alone one of his
Generals reported that he buried 3,000 dead. That the rebels themselves had buried 500 before they left the field.
That thousands of the rebel wounded fell into his hands.--That he took 5,000 prisoners, exclusive of stragglers, who amounted to about 2,000 more.
That he took a number of flags and thirteen pieces of cannon, while he did not lose a gun, or a standard, or a prisoner.
To these monstrous falsehoods, he sets his hand, without a blush, and without considering, for one moment, that veracity forms an ingredient in that character of a gentleman which he is so anxious to obtain.
He acknowledges, however, that in the
battle of Sharpsburg and the actions which preceded it, he sustained at loss of 14,796 men. The army of the
Duke of
Wellington lost at the
battle of Waterloo but 15,000 men.
It is useless, we presume, to point out the ties which lie thickly scattered throughout this document.
When a General, after having been beaten in six successive engagements, chased thirty miles, and compelled to shelter himself under a fleet of which his adversary had none, can reconcile it to his sense of propriety to write that he has been victorious all the time, it is hopeless to expect truth from him. In this very document, professing to give the results of the campaign of
Maryland, he has not a word to say of
Harper's Ferry, where he had 11,500 qrisoners taken, or of that tremendous slaughter inflicted by the division of
A. P. Hill upon his two brigades which crossed the river in pursuit, and which lost 3,000 killed, wounded, and drowned.--These omissions alone, in a pretended narrative of the campaign, are sufficient to damn him for ever, or would be had not his previous disregard of truth damned him already.--At
Harper's Ferry he lost seventy-three cannon, and the banners of a whole army; yet he says he lost neither cannon nor barners.--He pretends to have taken 5,000 prisoners at
Sharpsburg.
Where are they?
The existing convention or
cartel requires that they should be dismissed as soon as possible.
They have not come here, the point where they should have come, not have they reached any other point.
All that he
really took have been accounted foe — a few stragglers, a few sick, and a few wounded.
But where are these immense bodies of prisoners, and who has seen them besides
McClellan?
The Government has accurate lists of our killed, wounded, and missing.
From the
Rap island, all through the campaign to
Harper's Ferry, they number about 11,500.
At
Sharpsburg our loss was about 5,000.
But suppose we had lost 30,000, as
McClellan's lying reports indicate.
Suppose, too, he lost no more than he allows, that is to say, 14,796 men, at
Sharpsburg and in the preceding engagements.
Still his campaign is an unprofitable one, for his losses are nearly as great as ours, even according to this statement.
At
Harper's Ferry he lost 11,500 at
Sharpsburg 14,796, at
Harper's Ferry a gain.
3,000 killed, wounded, and drowned and sixty prisoners. Here his losses are 20,796 certain — part ascertained from his own statement part from the statements of our
Generals — and he does not claim to have inflicted on us a loss of more than thirty thousand--balance in his favor.
204 men. He claims 13 guns.
We took 73 at
Harper's Ferry.
Balance in our favor, 60 guns.
Taking the whole campaign, even on this statement, from the
Rapidan to
Winchester, it is enormously in our favor.
Still more is it so when we look at through the medium of other statements, combined with his.
Let us see what will be the result if we take our own statements for our losses and their statements for their losses.
Our loss in the whole campaign, from the
Rapidan to the recrossing into
Virginia, was according to the statement of
Mr. Crocker, about 14,500 killed, wounded, and missing.--The Yankee loss at
Harper's Ferry was according to their own admission, the same.--These two, then, balance each other, and all the rest is clear gain for us. First, they admit a loss of 3,000 at
Cedar Run; (They
actually lost more nearly 7,000)
Pope says they lost in the battle of the 29th August 8,000.
The
Baltimore San (or
American we do not recollect which, but we published the statement at the time) says they lost 17,000 in all the campaign up to the
second battle of Manassas, which would give 6,000 for the battle of the 28th.
Pope, we believe, says they lost 7,000 men at
Manassas. (
Gen. Lee, by-the-bye, paroled that number on the field.)
McClellan says they lost 14,796 at
South Mountain and
Antietam.
Lastly, at the crossing, when they were attacked by
A. P. Hill, they lost 3,500 killed, wounded, and missing. Total, in round numbers, according to their own statements with regard to their own losses, 42,000, clear balance in our favor.
But the
real loss was far greater.
General Lee paroled 7,000 prisoners on the field of
battle at Manassas. Three thousand wounded prisoners who were captured by us had not had their wounds dressed on the third day after the battle.
Every man who saw the field says there were at least five dead or wounded Yankees to one Confederate.
Every man who saw the field of
Sharpsburg save there were five or six Yankees lying there to one Confederate.
A correspondent of the New York
Tribune says
McClellan lost 28,000 men there.
This, we have no doubt, is within the mark, for
McClellan has never yet acknowledged the half of his loss on a single occasion.
His loss on the 14th all Confederate accounts put down at at least 5,000.
Here, then, is a statement of what we believe to be very nearly the loss of the
Yankees since
Jackson first crossed the
Rapidan:
| From the Rapidan to 30th August | 20 000 |
| Battle 30th August | 27 000 |
| Battle 14th September | 5 000 |
| Battle Sharpsburg | 28 000 |
| Battle with A. P. Hill | 3,500 |
| Capture of Harper's Ferry | 11 500 |
| Total | 95 000 |
Such we believe to be very nearly the true state of the case.
We believe that killed, wounded, drowned, and taken prisoners, the
Yankees have lost, in the campaign from the
Rapidan, at least that number of men, and we give our reasons above for thinking so. How many more they may have lost from disease we cannot say; but that the campaign has been to them a terribly destructive one does not admit of a doubt.
They pretend to have won a great victory at
Sharpsburg.
If so, why do they not follow
Gen. Lee and destroy his army?
They boasted of their intention to do so, yet they have not tried it.
The great
Napoleon was accused by the
English of exaggerating his successes; but whether he did so or not, great results always followed.
and they spoke in favor of his accuracy.
McClellan is like a bad actor, who can copy the mannerism of an admired model, but nothing else.
He can write parodies on the proclamations of
Napoleon, and outline his bulletins; but no results over follow his lies and his braggadocio.
