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 Cox : Military Reminiscences of the Civ it J Far 603 son are worthy of study by those writers of our war with Spain who, ignorant of the difficulties of such assembling, drove the nation crazy while our armies were gathering, by attributing conditions which, at the outset, are inseparable from all war camps, to inefficiency and neglect. The narrative of McClellan's West Virginia campaign is the most satisfactory yet given to the public. It brings into its proper propor- tions the operations which removed the fighting lines from the northern states, and gave West Virginia to the Union. He justly but temperately criticizes McClellan for leaving Rosecrans to win the battle of Rich Mountain unaided, and claims that on this early theatre of action the same characteristics were noticeable which later became so well known — "The same over-estimate of the enemy, the same tendency to interpret unfavorably the sights and sounds in front, the same hesitancy to throw in his whole force when his subordinate was engaged." Treating of the comparative merit of the volunteers and regulars General Cox expresses the opinion that, man for man, the volunteers were always better men than the average of those recruited for the regu- lar army and more amenable to discipline. The weakness of the volun- teer system was in the officers, but this was soon rectified by a gradual sifting process. He does not accept the dictum that because a young man graduated at West Point he was a good officer, and comes to the conclusion that, before the Civil War, the intellectual education at the Military Academy was essentially the same, as far as it went, as that of any polytechnic school, and that in some of the volunteer regiments were "whole companies of private soldiers who would not have shunned a competitive examination with West Point classes on the studies of the Military .Academy, excepting the technical engineering of fortifications." Reviewing Pope's campaign before Washington he deals fairly with that officer, contends that no one who had any right to judge could ques- tion his ability or his zeal, that there was neither intelligence nor con- sistency in the vituperation with which he was covered. He shows on good authority that the notorious order of Pope from " Headquarters in the saddle," as well as others of that period which at the time were so severely criticized and made the occasion of a bitter and lasting enmity toward Pope on the part of most of the officers and men of the Army of the Potomac, were drafted under the direction of Mr. Stanton, Secre- tary of War, and given to General Pope to issue, with the idea of infus- ing vigor into the army, by stirring words which "would by implication condemn McClellan's policy of over-caution in military matters and over- tenderness toward rebel sympathizers and their property." General Cox was in practical command of the Ninth Corps during the Maryland campaign of September, 1862. His services at South Mountain were brilliant, and at Antietam commendable. His descrip- tion of the former is full and accurate, that of Antietam is marred by many inaccuracies, especially relating to movements on the Union right. He conclusively controverts the widely and generally accepted belief that Burnside was derelict in duty at Antietam in that he did not attack