HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF
THE POTOMAC,
Camp near Harrison's
Landing, Va., July 4, 1862.
Soldiers of the Army
of the Potomac:
Your achievements of the last ten days have illustrated the
valor and endurance of the American soldier. Attacked by vastly superior
forces, and without hope of re-enforcements, you have succeeded in changing
your base of operations by a flank movement, always regarded as the most
hazardous of military expedients. You have saved all your material, all your
trains, and all your guns, except a few lost in battle, taking in return guns
and colors from the enemy. Upon your march you have been assailed day after day
with desperate fury by men of the same race and nation skillfully massed and
led; and under every disadvantage of numbers, and necessarily of position also,
you have in every conflict beaten back your foes with enormous slaughter.
Your conduct ranks you among the celebrated armies of
history. No one will now question that each of you may always say with pride,
"I belonged to the Army of the Potomac!"
You have reached this new base complete in organization and
unimpaired in spirit. The enemy may at any moment attack you. We are prepared
to receive them. I have personally established your lines. Let them come, and
we will convert their repulse into a final defeat. Your Government is
strengthening you with the resources of a great people.
On this our nation's birthday we declare to our foes, who
are rebels against the best interests of mankind, that this army shall enter
the capital of their so-called Confederacy; that our National Constitution
shall prevail, and that the Union, which can alone insure internal peace and
external security to each State, must and shall be preserved, cost what it may
in time, treasure, and blood.
GEO. B. McCLELLAN,
Major-General,
Commanding.
SOURCE: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I, Volume
11, Part 3 (Serial No. 14), p. 299
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