Of the many misfortunes of these generals, the
historian who comes after me will give you a more enlarged account
than I have time or space to do at present. Heaven knows, they were
manifold.
When, then, Grant moved against the enemy with the Army of the
Potomac, General Franz Siegel was put at the head of a column at
Winchester, and marched up the valley with a great flourish of
trumpets. This German general was in high feather then, and declared
he would drive the rebels before him, like so many chickens, and
never stop until he got them all cooped up in Richmond. But the
rebels were not inclined to submit to this cooping process. Indeed,
they soon discovered that this General Franz Siegel was not so much
of a general after all, and that he had an eccentric way of moving
his troops. So when he had driven them, as he supposed, to
Newmarket, they turned upon him in a very angry manner, gave him
battle, defeated him, and forced him back in disorder. This was
unfortunate for Siegel, and more unfortunate for his German
admirers, who declared him to be the greatest general of modern
times. But he had fought this battle so badly that the government
for once made up its mind that it would be wisdom not to let him try
his hand at another.
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