FROM GEN. M’CLELLAN’S ARMY: Extensive and Mysterious Movements of the Enemy; IMMINENCE OF ANOTHER GREAT BATTLE (6/16/1862)

We are without any intelligence from Gen. MCCLELLAN's Army of a later date than Saturday, telegraphic communication with Fortress Monroe having been interrupted by a storm. We repeat, however, the following intelligence printed in our Sunday Edition, which, indicates that important movements have recently been made by the rebels:

"The movements of the enemy to-day have been extensive, and as yet are involved in mystery. Large bodies of men have been seen moving down from the neighborhood of Mechanicsville Bridge and Richmond towards the late battle-field.

Our pickets were yesterday driven in from Old Church, during which Capt. REZALL. of the cavalry, was wounded, showing that the enemy design making a demonstration is that direction.

A contraband, who came in yesterday, reported that 3,000 cavalry left Richmond on Wednesday, going in the direction of Fredericksburgh. This is probably the force that appeared at Old Church.

The rebels opened at daylight this morning a sharp fire from artillery in front of Gen. SUMNER. It lasted for about three hours. We had one man killed and one wounded."

Other dispatches received to-day state that a demonstration was made yesterday evening by a force of rebel cavalry and artillery on the right flank of Gen. MCCLELLAN's army at Tunstall's Station, apparently with the intention of interrupting his railroad communication. The attempt was met by a force of infantry, and the enemy retreated. No damage was done to the railroad.

Free Republic University, Department of History presents U.S. History, 1861-1865: Seminar and Discussion Forum
The American Civil War, as seen through news reports of the time and later historical accounts

First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: May 2025.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed.

Posting history, in reverse order

https://www.freerepublic.com/tag/by:homerjsimpson/index?tab=articles

To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by reply or freepmail.

Link to previous New York Times thread

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4071212/posts

From Gen. M’Clellan’s Army: Extensive and Mysterious Movements of the Enemy – 2-3
The Shenandoah Battles: The Battle of Cross Keys, between Fremont and Jackson – 3-5
The Battle of Port Republic: Special Dispatch to the Times – 5-6
News from New-Mexico – 6
News from Washington: Arrival of Wounded Soldiers from the Shenandoah Valley – 6-7
The Question of Enlarging the Canals: A Memorial to President Lincoln in Behalf of the People of the State of New-York* – 7-8
Mr. Ruggles’ Memorial on Canal Enlargement* – 8

*George Templeton Strong father-in-law Mr. Ruggles prominently mentioned.

Sherman’s Other War

Review of “The New Sherman Letters” by Joseph H. Ewing, in American Heritage (July-Aug. 1987), 60 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10011.

The American military’s relations with the news media have often been strained. But recent confrontations between brass and press pale beside the battles that Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-91) fought against journalists. Nowadays, senior commanders may chastise reporters. Sherman actually courtmartialed them.

War correspondents, Sherman complained, were “dirty newspaper scribblers who have the impudence of Satan.” “A cat in hell without claws.” wrote a rueful New York Tribune correspondent, “is nothing to a reporter in General Sherman’s army.”

Ewing, a free-lance writer, inherited letters written by Sherman to the author’s grandfather (who was Sherman’s stepbrother) and great-grandfather. The letters trace Sherman’s rising impatience with the press.

In October 1861, the New York Tribune printed the Union “order of battle,” listing the strength and location of Sherman’s forces. A year later, during the first battle of Vicksburg, Sherman’s officers intercepted journalists’ letters and refused to mail them. New York Herald reporter Thomas Knox then rewrote his account, charging that Sherman’s actions were due to “insanity and inefficiency.” “You are regarded as the enemy of our set,” Knox told Sherman after his arrest for espionage. “We must in self-defense write you down.”

Knox was tried by a military court, but found not guilty of espionage. This did not alter Sherman’s low opinion of the press, however. Journalists, he wrote in February, 1863, “eat our provisions, they swell the crowd of hangers on. . . they publish without stint. . . accurate information which reaches the enemy with as much regularity as it does our People.” For the remainder of the war, Sherman threatened “instant death” to reporters he suspected of espionage. This, he wrote, made journalists “meek and humble.”

Sherman continued to chastise the press after the war ended. Yet, in his memoirs, published inl875, he concluded that “so greedy are the people at large for war news, that it is doubtful whether any army commander can exclude all reporters, without bringing down on himself a clamor that may imperil his own safety.”

http://archive.wilsonquarterly.com/sites/default/files/articles/WQ_VOL11_W_1987_Periodical_17.pdf

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