onfusion; and thus artillery and wagons
remained stuck in the mud. This same confusion prevailed in all the
departments. We shall take the liberty here to quote at some length from
the remarks of the Prince De Joinville, who was at that time a member of
General McClellan's staff, an able soldier and an ardent friend of the
Commander-in-Chief. Says the Prince:

"The American system of 'every man for himself,' individually
applied by officers and soldiers of each corps to one another,
is also applied by the corps themselves to their reciprocal
relations. There is no special branch of the service whose duty
it is to regulate, centralize and direct the movements of the
army. In such a case as this of which we are speaking, we should
have seen the general staff of a French army taking care that
nothing should impede the advance of the troops; stopping a file
of wagons here and ordering it out of the road to clear the way;
sending on a detail of men there to repair the roadway, or draw
a cannon out of the mud in order to communicate to every corps
commander the orders of the general-in-chief. Here nothing of
the sort is done.

"The want of a general staff was not less severely felt in
obtaining and transmitting the information necessary, at the
moment of an impending action. No one knew the country; the maps
were so defective that they were useless. Little was known about
the fortified battle-field on which the army was about to be
engaged. Yet this battle-field had been seen and reconnoitered
by the troops which had taken part in Stoneman's skirmish.
Enough was surely known of it for us to combine a plan of
attack, and assign to every commander his own part of the work.
No, this was not so. Every one kept his observations to himself;
not from any ill-will, but because it was nobody's special duty
to do this general work. It was a defect in the organization,
and with the best elements in the world, an army that is not
organized cannot expect great success. It is fortunate if it
escapes disaster."

We may be pardoned for continuing this digression from the narrative, to
speak particularly of the disorder in the medical department. The
surgeons of regiments were, as a general rule, men of ability, and who
were earnestly devoted to the duties of their position. Of course, in so
large an army, there were some who we