text:  When our forces have encountered a reverse or even when the success has not been commensurate with the hopes that had been indulged; the public mind has ever been prone to condemn the commanders; and wherever there has been reason to believe that errors have been committed which have led to disaster there has been little disposition to make any allowances for the circumstances of the case or for the fallibility of man; but on the contrary the nation has too often evinced a fierce desire to punish the leaders for the mortification the country has been made to endure