cantonment Hicks, January 10, 1862,
Near Frederick,
Maryland.
Napoleon said, “Marlborough, while he gained battles, ruled
cabinets and guided statesmen.” I question much if our General, whatever may be
the future record of him as a battle-victor, will ever excite the praise of
ruling cabinets or statesmen. My impression, which I cannot shake off, is, that
McClellan fails to be master of the whole position. . . . . His admirers all
say, “Wait till he takes the field. He will whirl and sweep his enemies before
him like a storm-king.” I hope so; but meanwhile, in the organizing and
preparatory season, whose opportunity is now, his impulse is not as
widely or as directly felt as I could wish. This seems a tangible and real
defect, whose correction ought to be possible.
It is with such considerations as this that our minds
naturally busy themselves at this time. In this seclusion one is apt to get
under the influence of moods or rumors, and to exaggerate or create facts; but
I seem, to myself, to notice a great want of tone and confidence in the people
and in the army. This may not be so. Certainly, however, Congress is as utterly
beneath the emergency as possible.
After all the flurry of last Sunday, we are again hopelessly
quiet. This is exactly according to my faith, and I am sorry that you should
have imagined an anxiety for me, as your last letter indicates. Don't mind the
telegraph; you can really judge nothing by it.
You will see, by the date of my letter, that our camp is
now changed to a cantonment, by orders from brigade headquarters. The huts and
houses have so far outnumbered the tents that this nomenclatorial effort of the
General is excusable. Still, we are a camp, in my view, and not a cantonment;
though, of course, I date my letter according to the order.
SOURCE: Elizabeth Amelia Dwight, Editor, Life and
Letters of Wilder Dwight: Lieut.-Col. Second Mass. Inf. Vols., p. 186-7
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