It may be that
McClellan's evacuation of his position on
James river was not altogether in accordance with the plans of the
Federal Government for the reduction of the
Southern capital.
Reports from the recent scene of his operations concur in representing the condition of his army as pitiable in the extreme.
Disease and death had decimated his ranks, and it is stated that large numbers were dying daily from the effect of the climate and the malaria of the adjacent swamps.
It is possible, then, that his evacuation was a matter of necessity rather than any concerted plan for a ‘"change of base."’
