Heritage Road
On To Richmond
A yellowed clipping of the New
York Daily Tribune, exactly 100
years old, is a reminder of a con
troversial Union officer in the Civil
War — and of President Abraham
Lincoln’s troubles with him. Dated
Oct. 16, 1861, the clipping makes
this Northern boast:
“There need be no doubt about
the operation of our Army. Hardly
anything short of a miracle can de
lay its speedy advance.”
The North believed every word
of it. And why not? A tough Union
force, over 100,000 strong, was
poised to smash the capital of the
Confederacy at Richmond, Vir
ginia. It was superbly trained. Its
leader was none other than dash
ing George B. McClellan, the
North’s “Young Napoleon.” Less
than 14 weeks before, this 34-year
old general had handed the South
a sharp local defeat in the western
part of the state.
Moreover, the boys in 'blue hun
gered to wipe out their earlier
drubbing by the Southerners at
Bull Run, July 21, 1861. “On to
Richmond!” was their cry. Under
McClellan, they seemed sure to
make it.
They met catastrophe.
In the first place, McClellan had
the misfortune to come up against
two military giants — Confederate
Generals Joseph Johnston and
Robert E. Lee. When he launched
his elaborate attack up the Virginia
Peninsula (after many weeks of
delay), Johnston went into some
fancy footwork. The Confederates
were outnumbered more than two
to-one. But they made swift
marches. They hit the Federal
troops in concentrations of power.
They backed off and punched at
other spots. They set up cannons
made of logs to fool McClellan into
thinking they had powerful batter
ies.
Before Yorktown, 15,000 Confed
erates marched up and down hills
—sounding trumpets and flashing
bayonets — until McClellan be
lieved he faced an endless horde.
He brought 90,000 men to a halt
while engineers hauled up heavy
mortars to reduce the town.
At this point, McClellan’s pe
culiar personality began to operate
against him. An able organizer, he
was also vain, petty, and emotional.
He was over-cautious. He started
badgering Lincoln for more men
and guns to meet the “huge enemy
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forces” he was always imagining.
Lincoln replied with patience: “I
have omitted and shall omit no op
portunity to send you reenforce
ments whenever I possibly can.”
The President began to suspect
McClellan’s indecisiveness. But he
was willing to suffer along with the
handsome young general — if only
victories would result.
To make matters worse, McClel
lan began volunteering windy ad
vice on how the President should
run the country. This infuriated
Lincoln’s aides. One aide asked the
Prsident how he fedt to receive
such pronouncements from a su
bordinate. Lincoln answered wryly
that he felt ‘‘like the man on horse
back whose horse kicked a hind
foot up in the stirrup. The man
said to the horse, ‘If you’re going
to get up here, I’m going to get
down.’ ”
Up the Peninsula, McClellan’s at
tack crawled. Suddenly disaster ex
ploded. Johnstone stopped him
bloodily at Fair Oaks. Lee took
over (Johnston had been wound
ed), and lunged forward. In the
brilliant Seven Days’ Battles, the
famous Southerner knocked nu
merically stronger Union forces
from one defensive position to an
other.
The demoradized Yankees fell
back. McClellan sent shrill tele
grams to Washington blaming
everyone but himself for the deb
acle. One message went so far as
to accuse the Secretary of War,
Edwin Stanton, of doing his best
“to sacrifice this Army.”
But now Lincoln’s greatness
came to the fore. With hysteria
threatening . . . with the Republic
seeming to totter, he wired McClel
lan in calm faith:
“Maintain your ground if you
can; but save the Army at all
events . . . We still have strength
enough in the country and will
bring it out.”
The strength was indeed brought
out. But that was three cruel years
later — and under U. S. Grant, not
McClellan.
Crittenden Heads
Architect Group
Edwin B. Crittenden, Anchorage
architect, was elected the president
of Alaska’s first chapter of the
American Institute of Architects
at the gorup’s organizational meet
ing held in Anchorage Oct. 13-14.
Architects from all over the state
were in attendance.
Kodiak-Aleutlan !
Realty Services
Land
Business
Franchised Dealer far
Lockwall Hemes
APPRAISALS
LIFE INSURANCE
Notary Public
Staff Licensed and Bonded
by
State Real Estate rommieeirm
George H. Cornelias, Broker
For Appointment Call 486-2860
SUNDAY SPECIALS
Apple-Raisin Pie.600 E,
Root-Beer Iced Cupcakes. . ,.O60Ea
NAUGHTON’S BAKERY
Open Day & Nite
Phone 486—2600
Traffic Count
On City Streets
The Alaska Department of High
ways is taking a traffic count on
the State highway system roads
and all Kodiak streets. Ed Tucker,
of the Department is conducting
the survey.
The cables strung across the
roads make an automatic count of
traffic. Paul Stover, State Highway
Department foreman for Kodiak,
warned against dragging anything
across the cables. Anyone defacing,
molesting or mutilating cables is
liable to a fine of $500, he said.
I ISLAND PUBLISHING CO.
Phone 486—5123
' LYCRA
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hardly know you hare it on! Both coordinates prettied with
nylon lace to make it completely waahable.
Brassiere. A eup sizes 82-36, B cup sizes 32-88, C cup sizes
82-38. $3.95
Panty Girdle in Small, Medium and Large with reinforcing
satin elastic back panel. $6.95
KRAFT’S DRY GOODS DEPT.
Sportsmen!
We Have Our Shipment of The Famous Hand-forged
Ruana Skinning and Sticking Knives and Hunters Hatchets
Come In and See a Real Hunting Knife
t
OUR SALE on Franciscan Dishes and Revere Stainless Steel Pans
Ends Saturday, October 21, at 6:00 P. M.
LAST CALL
KRAFTS HARDWARE