June 22, 1863, The New York Herald
For the first time is laid before the public this morning in the HERALD an accurate narrative of the battle of Winchester, concerning which there had been so many conflicting accounts, most of them of an unfavorable nature, but some giving the Union General extraordinary credit for his performances. The reliable report which we publish to-day shows that nothing which has hitherto seen the light reaches the full amount of the disaster. Accompanying a detailed description of the battle is a correct map of the locality, including the roads, the town, the fortifications and the positions of the contending forces at various stages of the battle.
It will be seen that the fortifications are situated on two hills to the northwest of the town, consisting of […..] main work” nearest to Winchester, and […..] star fort” further north, both being connected with each other by a road. The position is evidently strong, and ought to have been held, as it certainly could have been if there had been generalship and pluck at the head. The attacking force has been estimated at from 15,000 to 18,000. Milroy had 7,000 in the battle, and could have concentrated 15,000 from the adjoining posts. The Confederates advanced by two roads – the Front Royal and the Strasburg – from the south, driving in the pickets and carrying the outposts, at the same time working their way gradually around by the western side of the town, from which on the second day they assaulted the outer works of the main fortification, rushing into the ditch and up the parapet, on which they planted their flag, carrying the works at the point of the bayonet, and killing and capturing considerable numbers. The inner works were still in the possession of Milroy, also the star fort. But a council of war was held after nightfall, and when the battle had ceased, on Sunday, it was decided to take advantage of the darkness and evacuate the place during the night in silence, leaving behind all the cannon, ammunition and stores. Better far to have retreated before the battle or to have fought it out. Milroy had not gone four miles when he found himself confronted by an overwhelming force which the Confederates had sent ahead. Two regiments were captured wholesale, and the slaughter of those who cut their way through was very considerable, while the cavalry pursued and captured great numbers. The loss was terrible. Nothing was saved except what was carried upon the persons of the troops. Not a soldier had a change of clothing. The officers were compelled to leave even their wives behind them in the hands of the enemy. Three entire batteries of field pieces and one battery of siege guns – in fact the whole of the artillery of the command – were lost, together with six thousand muskets, and small arms without stint, all the ammunition and commissary stores, two hundred and eighty wagons and one thousand two hundred horses. Out of seven thousand men only from one thousand six hundred to two thousand had turned up safe, leaving upwards of five thousand to be accounted for. The report in circulation that the train of Milroy had escaped turns out to be without foundation. Our correspondent, writing on the 20th, says nothing whatever belonging to Milroy’s command was saved, and the mistake originated from the fact that the trains from Jones’ brigade, at Martinsburg, and McReynolds’ brigade, from Berryville, escaped to Harrisburg. Thus the defeat of Milroy was most thorough and disastrous, and so much was he scared that he appears never to have stopped till he got to Baltimore.
Now, his troops fought admirably, and they were well handled by the subordinate officers. What, then, is the cause of a disaster as needless and as humiliating as that of Harper’s Ferry last year? Nothing but the want of cool courage and capacity in the commanding general. Unfortunately, Milroy is one of the political generals, appointed not for his military abilities, but for his violent abolition opinions. Such men, being fanatical, have not the brains to lead armies. In the second battle of Bull run, in which Pope commanded, Milroy’s frantic conduct showed that he had no presence of mind in battle. He says himself, in his evidence before a court of inquiry: – “I told him (McDowell) that I was not fighting with General Sigel’s corps; that my brigade had got out of ammunition some time before and gone to the rear, and that I had been fighting with half a dozen different brigades, and that I had not inquired whose or to what particular corps they belonged.” It is evident he has no idea of order or subordination, or command, and is totally unfit to lead troops. The evidence of Captain Cutting and Lieutenant Roebling shows the extraordinary state of mind in which he appeared at that battle. Brigadier General Buchanan bears similar testimony. He says: – “His manner was very excited, and every one inquired who that was rushing about so wildly. I left him haranguing and gesticulating most emphatically; but afterwards found him giving orders to a portion of my brigade. His own brigade was not near there, and he seemed to be rushing about the field without any special aim or object, unless it was to assist in the performance of other officers’ duties.” Lastly, General McDowell says of him: – “When he spoke to me he was in a frensy, not accountable scarcely for what he said, and attracted the attention of every one by his unseemly conduct.” His own report, indeed, written some time after, when his mind might be supposed to be in its normal states, shows how extravagant and unmeasured he is in his language and how illogical his mind.
Now, all this evidence is in print and before the War Department; and yet, since the disastrous battle in which he played so strange a part, General Milroy has been actually promoted. He has been appointed a Major General, placed in command of a division, and entrusted with so important a post as that of Winchester, from whose capture sad consequences have already flowed and more grave disasters may still follow. And now, again, instead of having him put arrest, the War Department send him into Western Virginia in command of other troops, which he will probably suffer to be gobbled up.
It must be in the recollection of many of our readers that, in a letter to one of the meetings of the Loyal league held in this city, General Milroy proposed soon to crush freedom of speech and freedom of the press at the North, inasmuch as the rebels were now nearly conquered; and, that consummation having been achieved, the troops would be at liberty to attend to such Northern traitors as dared to criticise the acts of the administration. He has been ahead of Burnside and every other general in his crusade against the liberties of the loyal and peaceful citizens of the North; but he has made very little headway against the rebels. It is worthy of remark that the generals who are the greatest failures have distinguished themselves most in assailing the constitutional rights of the people.