could have the co-operation of the gunboats
which lay at Harrison's Landing.

General Halleck took command as General-in-Chief of the army directly
after the Army of the Potomac had closed its campaign against
Richmond. He visited Harrison's Landing on the 24th of July to
make personal inquiry into the situation, and the result was an
order for the transfer of the army to Acquia Creek. General
McClellan protested earnestly, and, in the judgment of many of the
most skilled in military science, wisely, against this movement.
The Army of the Potomac, he said, was "within twenty-five miles of
Richmond, and with the aid of the gunboats we can supply the army
by water during its advance to within twelve miles of Richmond.
At Acquia Creek we would be seventy miles from Richmond, with land
transportation all the way." He thought the government had ample
troops to protect Washington and guard the line of the Potomac,
and he could not see the wisdom of transporting the Army of the
Potomac two hundred miles at enormous cost, only to place it three
times as far from Richmond as it then was. General Halleck's
position was sustained by the President, and the Secretary of War,
and the argument of General McClellan, convincing and conclusive
as it seems, was overruled by the peremptory mandate of his military
superiors.

The failure of the Peninsular campaign will always be a subject of
controversy. At the time it was one of prolonged and angry dispute.
Where military critics so widely differ, civilians gain the right
to a personal judgment. The weakness of that great military movement
was the lack of cordiality and confidence between the commander
and the Administration at Washington. The seeds of distrust had
been sown and a bountiful crop of disaster was the natural growth.
The withdrawal of McDowell's corps was a fatal blow to McClellan.
Before a military court which was inquiring into the transaction,
General McClellan stated under oath that he had "no doubt that the
Army of the Potomac would have taken Richmond had not the corps of
General McDowell been separated from it; and that, had the command
of General McDowell in the month of May joined the Army of the
Potomac by way of Hanover Court-House, we would have had Richmond
a week after the junction." He added, with evident reference to
Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Stanton, "I do not hold General McDowell
responsible for a failure to join me on that occasion."