22

WHY THE CONFEDERATE ARMY WAS IMMOVABLE.

marplot in the way of military affairs throughout the war. At the beginning he appointed an incompetent and vicious companion-in-arms at a former period, named Northrop, to the vitally important post of Chief of Subsistence. This was done in the face of earnest protests; and now, at the first momentous trial, this Chief Commissary's incapacity was fatally conspicuous. Under the sanction, if not at the command of Davis, he refused to allow his subordinates to purchase supplies for the army at Manassas in the fertile country adjacent, but sent others to gather them in the rear of the army, and forward them in daily doles, at heavy expense, by the Orange and Alexandria Railway, exposed to the vicissitudes of war. He allowed no deposits of supplies to be established near the army; and on the day of the battle, Beauregard had only a single day's rations for his troops.' For weeks afterward this state of things continued, and it was impossible for the army to move

shot of the National defenses on Arlington Heights.

The physical disabilities of the Confederates alluded to, were, probably, not the only reasons for the immobility of their army after the battle. Davis and his associates at Richmond well knew the strength of the lion of the North, which their wickedness had aroused. They had promised their dupes "peaceable secession," because they thought that strength would not be put forth. They found themselves mistaken, and their cause in great peril; and they well knew, that if they should push on to the extremity of seizing Washington at that time, it would so consolidate and invoke to terrible action the power of the North, that the conspirators would not hold the National Capital ten days, nor prevent the utter extermination of the insurgent armies, and the desolation of their territories by an exasperated people. This moral effect they dreaded; so they were content to have the vanity of their followers gratified by the accident of a victory at Bull's Run, and hoped to accomplish, by negotiation and compromise, what they could not expect to win by arms.

1 Statement of General Thomas Jordan, then chief of Beauregard's staff, in Harper's Magazine, xxxi. 610. Jordan says: "Flour bought by speculators in the Valley and Loudon was carried to Richmond, sold to the Subsistence Bureau, and transported back to Manassas."

2 Late in August, Johnston wrote to Beauregard: "It is impossible, as the affairs of the commissariat are now managed, to think of any other military course than a strictly defensive base."

From a photograph by Alexander Gardiner, of Washington City.

NEW ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, 23.

a July 22, 1861.

The National Government now acted with decision and energy. General McClellan, who, with able subordinates and brave troops, had made a brilliant and successful campaign in Western Virginia, was summoned to Washington on the day after the Battle of Bull's Run,a and, with the approbation of the people, who were loudly sounding his praises, he was placed in command of the shattered army at and near the seat of Government. General McDowell, like a true soldier, gracefully withdrew, and on the 25th of July, the Adjutant-General announced the creation of a Geographical Division, formed of the Departments of Washington and of Northeastern Virginia, under the young chieftain, with head-quarters at Washington City.

Other changes had already been determined upon. On the July. 19th, an order was issued from the War Department for the honorable discharge from the service of Major-General Robert Patterson, on the 27th, when his term of duty would expire; and General N. P. Banks, then in command at Baltimore, was directed to take his place in charge of the Department of the Shenandoah, he being relieved by General John A. Dix. There was a new arrangement of Military Departments,' and Lieutenant-General Scott, who was the General-in-Chief of the armies, greatly disabled by increasing infirmities, was, at his own suggestion, relieved from active duties.

General McClellan turned over the command of the army in Western Virginia to Brigadier-General Rosecrans, and entered with zeal and vigor upon the arduous task of reorganizing the army, of which he took charge on the 27th of July. He brought to the service, youth, a spotless moral character, robust health, a sound theoretical military education with some practical experience, untiring industry, the prestige of recent success in the field, and the unlimited confidence of the loyal people. He found at his disposal about fifty thousand infantry, less than one thousand cavalry, six hundred and fifty artillerymen, and thirty pieces of cannon. He found, in the men, excellent materials out of which to fashion a fine army, but in a disorganized and comparatively crude condition. His first care was to effect a moral improvement by thorough discipline; and then, under the sanction of a recent Act of Congress, to winnow the officers of all the volunteer regiments, and dismiss all incompetents. By this process no less than three hundred officers were compelled to leave the service in the course of a few months.

Having laid the moral foundations for an efficient army organization, McClellan proceeded with skill and vigor to mold his materials into perfect symmetry. He made the regiment a unit. Four regiments composed a brigade, and three brigades a division. Each division had four batteries: three served by volunteers and one by regulars; the captain of the latter commanding the entire artillery of the division. With the assistance of Majors William F. Barry and J. G. Barnard, he organized artillery and engineering establishments; and the dragoons, mounted riflemen, and cavalry

1 The counties of Washington and Alleghany, in Maryland, were added to the Department of the Shenandoah, created on the 19th of July, with head-quarters in the field; and the remainder of Maryland, and all of Pennsylvania and Delaware, constituted the Department of Pennsylvania, head-quarters at Baltimore. A Board was also established at this time for the examination of all officers of volunteer regiments.

2 General McClellan's Report to the Secretary of War, August 4, 1863.

24

THE DEFENSES OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL.

were all reorganized under the general name of cavalry. To Major Barry were intrusted the details of the artillery establishment; and Major Barnard was directed to construct a system of defenses for Washington City, on both sides of the Potomac. In the course of a few months every considerable

eminence in the

vicinity of the National Capi

tal was crowned with a fort or redoubt well mounted. Early in the following year the number of these works was fifty-two, whose names and locations are indicated on the accompanying map.1 This

system of works was so complete, that at no time afterward, during the war, did the Confederates ever seriously attempt to assail them. At no time was the Capital in danger from external foes.

.1861.

The work of organization was performed with such energy, that in the place of a raw and disorganized army of about fifty thousand men, in and around Washington City, at the close of July, there was, at the end of fifty days, a force of at least one hundred thousand men, well organized and officered, equipped and disciplined. Of these, full seventyfive thousand were then in a condition to be placed in column for active operations. The entire force under McClellan's command, at that time, including those under Dix, at Baltimore, was one hundred and fifty-two thou

1 According to General Orders issued by McClellan on the 30th of September, 1861, in which the names and locations of these forts were designated, thirty-two of them were then completed. At the beginning of December forty-eight were finished.

THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

25

sand men, of whom between eight and nine thousand were sick or absent. This number was continually increased, until, on the first of March, 1862, when the army was put in motion, its grand total was two hundred and twenty-two thousand, of whom about thirty thousand were sick or absent.' Such was the force with which General McClellan was furnished for the first campaign in Virginia after the Battle of Bull's Run. It was known as the GRAND ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, whose existence was a wonder."

One of the most serious difficulties encountered by the Government, at the beginning of the war, was a lack of arms. We have seen how Secretary Floyd stripped the arsenals and armories in the Free-labor States, and filled those of the Slave-labor States, when preparations were making for rebellion." The armories at Harper's Ferry and Springfield were the principal ones on which the Government could rely for the manufacture of small arms. The former was destroyed in April, and the latter could not supply a tithe of the demand. It was necessary to send to Europe for arms; and Colonel George L. Schuyler was appointed an agent for the purpose, with specific instructions from the Secretary of War. He purchased 116,000 rifles, 10,000 revolvers, 10,000 cavalry carbines, and 21,000 sabers, at an aggregate cost of $2,044,931. It was not long before the private and National armories of the United States were able to meet all demands. The loss of over two thousand cannon at the Gosport Navy Yard' was a serious one; but the foundries of the country soon supplied the Government with all that were required.

a

a July 29, 1861.

Of the "absent" soldiers alluded to, more than two thousand were, at the time in question, in the loathsome prisons of the Confederates, and suffering intensely from cruel treatment and privations of every kind. A large portion of these prisoners were captured at the Battle of Bull's Run. These were taken by railway to Richmond on the 23d and 24th of July. Among the first who arrived there was Alfred Ely, member of Congress from the State of New York, and Calvin Huson, his rival can

1 In a "Memorandum" which General McClellan submitted to the President, on the 4th of August, 1861, he said: "For the main army of operations, I urge the following composition:

"The creation of such an army," said General McClellan, “in so short a time, will hereafter be regarded as one of the highest glories of the Administration and the nation." In this organization of that ariny, and the discipline which it received during the seven months that it remained at Washington City and in the vicinity we may fairly look for the groundwork of those successes which it achieved long afterward, to the “glory of the Administration and the nation."

3 See volume I, page 121.

* Colonel Schuyler could not procure arms in England and France on his arrival, and a greater portion of them were purchased Germany. He bought 70,000 rifles in Vienna, and 27,000 in Dresden. Of the "Smallarms Association." in England, he procured 15,000 Enfield rifles. The revolvers were purchased in France and Belgium; also 10,000 cavalry carbines; and the sabers were bought in Germany. Through the interference of Confederate agents in France, the French Government would not allow any arms to be taken, by either party from its arsenals.-See Report of Colonel Schuyler to the Secretary of War, April 8, 1862.

5 See volume I., page 397.

Mr. Ely was one of the civilians, mentioned in the first volume of this work (page 605), who went out as a spectator of the Battle of Bull's Run. He was captured by some South Carolina troops, who ascertained his name and position, and conducted him to their colonel, E. B. C. Cash, of South Carolina. That officer was excited by liquor, and, drawing his pistol, was about to shoot the prisoner, when the others interfered. Mr. Ely

26

NATIONAL PRISONERS IN RICHMOND.

didate for the same office, accompanied by Colonel Michael Corcoran and forty other officers, and a large number of private soldiers. It was at about ten o'clock, on a moonlit evening, when they reached the city, where an immense crowd had assembled. Amid the scoffs and sometimes curses of the populace, they were marched three-fourths of a mile to Harwood's large tobacco factory, on Main Street, near Twenty-fifth Street. It was a brick building, hastily prepared for the

TOBACCO WAREHOUSE PRISON.

occasion. Into it officers and men were thrust, to the number of more than six hundred;' and they were so closely huddled that it was difficult for any one to lie down. No doubt this was the best arrangement that could be made immediately for the unexpected captives.

On the following morning the officers were waited upon by John H. Winder, a stout, gray-haired man, from Maryland, and lately a lieutenantcolonel, by brevet, in the National Army. He was now a Confederate

brigadier-general, in command of the post at Richmond, and appeared for the first time on the theater of the Rebellion as Commissary-General of prisoners, in which capacity he acted throughout the war, and gained for himself the most unenviable notoriety. He promised the prisoners better quarters, and on that day the officers were removed to an adjoining building, where they had a little more room, light, and air; but neither chair nor bench to sit upon, nor bed to lie upon. For a short time they entertained hopes of a speedy release; and a considerable number of men, somewhat distinguished in the political world, visited Mr. Ely, and made abundant promises of aid, which they never fulfilled. Yet there were a few persons

JOHN H. WINDER.

was compelled to walk to the railway, at Manassas, about seven miles; and near Beauregard's head-quarters, he, with Corcoran and several officers, spent the night in an old barn, from which they were marched to the railway station and sent to Richmond.

1 In the Appendix to Mr. Ely's Journal, kept during his imprisonment, may be found a complete list of all the Bull's Run prisoners who were confined with him.

2 On the day after his arrival in Richmond, Mr. Ely, at the request of his fellow-prisoners, prepared a petition to the President, requesting immediate steps to be taken by the Government for their release. It was signed by the officers, and was forwarded.

3 Among these were Messrs. Keitt and Boyce, of South Carolina, and Pryor and Bocock, of Virginia, who were Mr Ely's fellow-members in the Thirty-sixth Congress, and were now occupying seats in the so-called Confederate Congress.