But it was too much to expect of General Mc- CHAP. VII. Clellan that he should follow such advice. He had had, it is true, a moment of elation on the morning

W. R.

Part II., p. 294.

of the 15th after the engagement at South Moun- Sept., 1862. tain. To attack an enemy in position, and drive him, was to McClellan so new a sensation that he was evidently greatly exhilarated by his success at Turner's Gap. He reported Lee as admitting "they had been shockingly whipped," and as Vol. XIX., making for Shepherdstown in a perfect panic." But after the terrible conflict at Antietam the cold fit came on, and his only dispatches to Washington were of his heavy losses and of holding what he had gained. He evidently thought more of being attacked on that day than of attacking. "The battle," he says, "will probably be renewed to-day. Send all the troops you can, by the most expeditious route." It was therefore with feelings of the greatest relief that he saw Lee's rear-guard disappear across the Potomac, and in the forenoon of the 19th he joyfully telegraphed to Washington, "Our victory was complete. The enemy is driven back into Virginia. Maryland and Pennsylvania are now safe."

The President received this news, as was natural, with mingled gratitude and disappointment. He was glad and thankful for the measure of success which had been achieved, but the high hope he had entertained of destroying Lee's army before it recrossed the Potomac was baffled. His constant entreaty to McClellan, from the time he put him in command of the army up to the day of the battle, was, "Please do not let him get off without being hurt." It was with this hope and purpose that he VOL. VI.-10

McClellan to Halleck,

Sept. 18, Vol. XIX.,

1862.

W. R.

Part II.,

p. 322.

McClellan vol. XIX.,

to Halleck. W. R.

Part II., p. 330.

Lincoln to
McClellan,

Sept. 12,
Vol. XIX.,

1862. W. R.

Part II., p. 270.

CHAP. VII. had given McClellan everything he asked for, infusing his own indomitable spirit into all the details of work at the War Department and the headquarters of the army. It was by his order that McClellan had been pushed forward, that Porter had been detached from the defense of Washington, that the militia of Pennsylvania had been hurried down to the border. He did not share General McClellan's illusion as to the monstrous number of the enemy opposed to him; and when he looked at the vast aggregate of the Army of the Potomac by the morning report on the 20th of September, which shows 93,149 present for duty, he could not but feel that the result was not commensurate with the efforts made and the resources employed.

1862.

CHAPTER VIII

WH

EMANCIPATION ANNOUNCED

1862.

HEN, on the 22d of July, after full Cabinet CHAP. VIII. discussion, President Lincoln decided to postpone the proclamation of emancipation which he had first prepared, in order to wait for a victory, all indications afforded a reasonable hope that the delay would not be a long one. The union of the armies of McClellan and Pope had been ordered, and once combined they would outnumber any force they were likely to meet. Halleck had been called to Washington to exercise chief command and secure unity of orders and movements. The new call for volunteers was expected to bring quick reënforcements.

We have seen through what deplorable shortcomings of McClellan and some of his officers this reasonable hope was frustrated, and how, instead of the expected victory, an unnecessary and most disheartening defeat augmented President Lincoln's difficulties and responsibilities; how the combined armies were forced back upon Washington under such circumstances that the President felt compelled to intrust their reorganization to the very man whose weakness and jealousy had been the main cause of the disaster.