The article of which the following pages are a translation appeared in the number of the Revue des Deux Mondes for October 15th, 1862. It is there entitled “ Campagne de l’Armee du Potomac, Mars-Juillet, 1862,” and bears the signature of “A. Trog- non.” It is well understood in Paris that this signature is the om de plume of one of the princes of the House of Orleans, and from the internal evidence afforded by the paper itself I have been led to believe that it was probably written by the Prince de Joinville, who accompanied his nephews, the Comte de Paris and the Duc de Chartres, throughout the period of their service in the Army of the Union, and that it was composed upon the data furnished by the journals of one or both of those princes, collated with his own observations and recollections. I have accordingly accepted the well-authenticated rumor which ascribes its authorship to him. I have also taken the liberty of affixing to the translation a title which more fully describes the scope and nature of the paper. As the reader will perceive, it is a critical and historical sketch of the rise, progress, character and fortunes of the army which was assembled at Washington for the invasion of Virginia, from the time of its first organization in 1861, down to the end of the campaign before Richmond in 1862. It is written with the freedom and force of an accomplished military man, anxious to do justice to the merits and to point out the defects of an army which he has studied in the camp and in the field; master of his subject; temperate in tone, and in stylo equally free from the carelessness of the amateur, and the pedantry of the professional soldier. Recent events have given a peculiar importance to the facts here presented, and it will not be easy for any candid person to read these pages without feeling that the causes of the military misfortunes which will make the year 1862 so painfully remarkable in our history demand the fullest and most searching investigation. (3)
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTM4ODY=