June 23, 1863, The New York Herald
The loss of Winchester by General Milroy is a matter that demands the immediate attention of the government. It is worse than the surrender of Harper’s Ferry and Maryland Heights by Miles and Ford last September, and General Milroy ought to be placed immediately under arrest and tried by court martial.
Winchester is the key of the valley of the Shenandoah, and is a more important position than Harper’s Ferry. The blame of losing it must be equally divided between the War Department and General Milroy. The intention of Lee to move North though the valley was known to the government more than a month ago, and it was the business of the War Department to post a sufficient force at Winchester, and to place in command of it a reliable general. The force does not appear to have been equal to the emergency; but it was enough for a far better defence than General Milroy made with it. If he was taken by surprise he was unfit for such a command. If he was not surprised then he ought to have concentrated the troops of the adjoining posts, to the number of fifteen thousand, which was equal to the attacking force, to say nothing of Milroy’s possession of strong fortifications. But he did not make what deserves the name of a fight. Had he even held the enemy at bay for a day or two longer, in order to give time for Hooker’s army to come up, those two divisions of Ewell’s corps would have been captured or destroyed, and Lee’s game of invasion would not only have been frustrated, but his army so weakened by the loss that its destruction would have been comparatively an easy task, unless it made a speedy retreat southward through the valley. But the facility with which the key was wrested from the grasp of Milroy has reversed the picture and given Lee a tremendous advantage, which he has not failed to use with effect. It has not only provided him with ammunition and ample stores, but it has opened the gate to Maryland and Pennsylvania, and the advance of the rebel army has been ravaging those States ever since, carrying off horses and cattle and various supplies, and preparing the way for the coming of the main body, and establishing a base of operations from which to march at pleasure either against Baltimore or Washington on the northern side. The loss of Harper’s Ferry followed from the loss of Winchester. Perhaps the next thing we shall hear of, as another consequence, is the capture of Maryland Heights, the possession of which would shorten the route to Washington by two days’ march.
These consequences and the disgraceful panic in Pennsylvania have resulted from the utter want of capacity and courage in General Milroy, whose military imbecility was long since, well known to the War Department. The public welfare demands that he be arrested, tried by court martial, and shot, as an example for the future. The interest of the nation equally demand that Mr. Stanton be removed from the War Department, and that a competent officer receive his portfolio. The country has no confidence in Mr. Lincoln’s Cabinet, but, believing in his integrity, it looks to him, as the Chief Magistrate, to secure hereafter a better and more successful management of the war.