Excerpt from McClellan and the Army of the Potomac
© 2000 ProofmarkGeneral Juan Prim
For a long time I was very anxious to visit the United States but, notwithstanding, I had no opportunity of realizing my desire until, being in Havana after my retirement from Mexico and having to return to Spain, I resolved to pass through New York and, once being there, I deemed it to be a duty of military politeness due to my country to visit one of the Federal armies and, if possible, to be present at one of their battles. I therefore left my family in New York and proceeded to Washington, accompanied by Brigadier Milans del Bosch; my aide, Don Carlos Detendre; Colonel Corazar, of the Cuban army; Senor Perez Calvo, the journalist; Don Santos San Miguel; and Don Francisco Salas.
In Washington I was cordially received and entertained by the Minister Plenipotentiary of Her Majesty the Queen, Don Gabriel Tassara, who presented me to the Secretary of State, Mr. Seward, and he in his turn did me the honor of introducing me and my officers to President Lincoln. I felt greatly obliged for the frankness and kindness which characterized my reception by the President and his minister, and the remembrance of the high deference with which they honored me will always live in my mind.
The largest army at that time was that of the Potomac, which was under the command of the distinguished General McClellan, and which was then very near Richmond. There was every probability of a great battle which, if won by the Federal troops, would result in the capture of the Southern capital. As my object was to ascertain, from personal observation, the stamina of those courageous armies, I went there to be a witness to a campaign that might decide the fate of the country. I stopped at Fortress Monroe, situated at the mouth of the Potomac, which {as with all other forts of the American Union} is everything that it should be--- solid in construction and strongly defended by means of hundreds of guns of the heaviest calibre; as such works, with their immense stores, cannot be improvised, it is the most evident proof that the great republic has never been careless of her defense, as some persons have imagined.
I arrived at White House, the Þrst halting point of the Army of the Potomac and, as that was the place for collecting the troops and materiel of war, the activity there was greater than the ordinary movements of the most commercial ports of Europe. The chief officer of the post, as soon as he learned that a Spanish general had arrived, came at once to visit me and, with remarkable politeness, offered me his services, remarking that he was thus fulfilling a duty of military brotherhood and obeying the orders of his government and of the commander-in-chief.
Back to McClellan and the Army of the Potomac
If you get lost, consult the map of this site
Back to the Civil War Library page
