There are rumors that the Federals, under Brigadier
McClellan, who have advanced into Western Virginia, have gained some successes;
but so far it seems to have no larger dimensions than the onward raid of one
clan against another in the Highlands. And whence do rumors come? From
Government departments, which, like so many Danaes in the clerks' rooms,
receive the visits of the auriferous Jupiters of the press, who condense
themselves into purveyors of smashes, slings, baskets of champagne, and
dinners. McClellan is, however, considered a very steady and respectable
professional soldier. A friend of his told me to-day one of the most serious
complaints the Central Illinois Company had against him was that, during the
Italian war, he seemed to forget their business; and that he was busied with
maps stretched out on the floor, whereupon he, superincumbent, penned out the
points of battle and strategy, when he ought to have been attending to
passenger trains and traffic. That which was flat blasphemy in a railway
office, may be amazingly approved in the field.
SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and
South, Vol. 1, p. 402-3
