18

WASHINGTON AND RICHMOND CONTRASTED.

the Army of the Potomac charged with the duty of seizing the Capital of the insurgents, driving them from Virginia, and relieving the City of Washington from all danger of capture.

Whilst one section of the Republic was resonant with shouts of exultation, the other was silent because of the inaction of despondency. Whilst the Confederates were elated beyond measure by the seeming evidence given by the battle, of their own superior skill and valor and the cowardice of their opponents, and thousands flocked to the standard of revolt from all parts of the Southern States, the Loyalists were stunned by the great disaster, and the seventy-five thousand three-months men, whose terms of service were about expiring, were, for the moment, made eager to leave the field and retire to their homes. Whilst in Richmond, now become the Capital of the Confederation, the bells were ringing out merry peals of joy, and "the city seemed lifted up, and every one seemed to walk on air," and "the men in place felt that now they held their offices for life;" where Jefferson Davis said to the multitude, when referring to the vanquished Nationals, with bitter scorn, "Never be haughty to the humble;" where all believed that Walker's prediction would that day be fulfilled, and the banner of Rebellion be unfurled from the dome of the Capitol in Washington, and that the "tide of war would roll from that day northward into the enemy's country "-the fertile fields and rich cities of the Free-labor States-there was terror and anguish, and the most gloomy visions of a ruined Republic at the seat of the National Government, and men in place there were not certain of filling their offices for an hour. Whilst the streets of Richmond were populous with prisoners from the vanquished army, and eager volunteers pressing on toward the camp of the victors at Manassas, the streets of Washington were crowded with discomfited and disheartened soldiery, without leaders, and without organization-the personification of the crushed hopes of the loyal people.

Such was the sad picture of the situation of the Republic and of the relative character of the contending parties, much exaggerated, 1861. which was presented to Europe in the month of August." The first account of the battle, the panic that seized some of the National troops, and the confused flight of soldiers and civilians back to Washington, was given to the Elder World through the London Times, the assumed and accredited exponent of the political and social opinions of the ruling class in England, by the pen of Dr. Russell, who did not see the conflict, and who was one of the most speedy and persevering of the civilians in

fight in the battle of Manassas. You have created an epoch in the history of liberty, and unborn nations will rise up and call you blessed. Continue this noble devotion, looking always to the protection of a just God, and, before time grows much older, we will be hailed as the deliverers of a nation of ten millions of people. Comrades, our brothers who have fallen have earned undying renown, and their blood, shed in our holy cause, is a precious and acceptable sacrifice to the Father of truth and right. Their graves are beside the tomb of Wash ngton; their spirits have joined his in eternal commune."

Jefferson Davis addressed the people on his arrival at Richmond, on the evening of the 23d, and boldly declared that his troops had captured "every thing the enemy had in the field," including "provisions enough to feed an army of 50,000 men for twelve months."-Richmond papers, July 24. Davis's exaggeration is made plain by the statement that it would require more than 12,000 wagons to transport that amount of food.

1 A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, page 65.

2 See volume I., page 339.

A Rebel War Clerk's Diary, page 65.

* See note 8, page 91, volume L

ENGLISH OPINION.-A CHANGE.

19

their eager flight from the suspected dangers of an imaginary pursuit of Confederate cavalry. His was, in a great degree, a tale of the imagination, founded on fact," and well served the conspirators for a brief season.' It excited among the ruling classes in Europe a derision of the loyal people and the Government of the United States, and the desires of the enemies of republicanism and the sovereignty of the people were gratified. The ruin of the Great Republic of the West seemed to them almost as certain as a fact accomplished. English statesmen and journalists dogmatically asserted it, and deplored the folly and wickedness of the President and Congress, in "waging war upon Sovereign States," in vindication of an idea and a principle, and attempting to hold in union, by force, a people who had the right and the desire to withdraw from a hated fellowship. It was declared that "the bubble of Democracy had burst." There was joyful wailing over "the late United States;" and one of England's poets was constrained to write— "Alas for America's glory!

Ichabod-vanished outright;
And all the magnificent story
Told as a dream of the night!
Alas for the Heroes and Sages,

Saddened, in Hades, to know

That what they had built for all ages,
Melts like a palace of snow!"

This relative condition of the parties was temporary. The loyal people instantly recovered from the stunning blow, and in that recovery awakened from the delusive dream that their armies were invincible, that the Confederates were only passionate and not strong, and that the rebellion could be crushed in ninety days, as the hopeful Secretary of State had predicted, and continued to predict. It was evident that the battle just fought was only the beginning of a desperate struggle with the enemies of the Republic, who had made thorough preparation for the conflict, and had resolved to win the prize at all hazards. With this conviction of danger added to the sting of mortified national pride, the patriotism of the Loyalists was intensely exercised.

The Government, which had been lulled into feelings of security by the song of its own egotism, and had hesitated when urged to engage more troops, "for three years or the war," was now also aroused to a painful sense of danger and the penalties of misjudgment; and the Secretary of War, who had refused to sanction a call for a larger body of Pennsylvania volunteers

1 Although nearly disabled by weariness of mind and body, Dr. Russell wrote his famous dispatch to the Times during the night succeeding his flight from Centreville, that it might go to England by the next Boston steamer. "The pen went flying about the paper," he says, " as if the spirits were playing tricks with it. When I screwed up my utmost resolution, the 'y's' would still run into long streaks, and the letters combine most curiously, and my eyes closed, and my pen slipped." After a brief nap, he was aroused by a messenger from Lord Lyons, to inquire after him, and invite him to supper. "I resumed my seat," he says, "haunted by the memory of the Boston mail, which would be closed in a few hours, and I had much to tell, although I had not seen the battle." On the testimony thus given, the Times said (August 10, 1861): “It is evident that the whole volunteer army of the Northern States is worthless as a military organization a screaming crowd;" and spoke of it as a collection of "New York rowdies and Boston abolitionists, desolating the villages of Virginia."

2 Five days after the Battle of Bull's Run, the Secretary of State wrote to Mr. Adams, the American Minister in London, saying: "Our Army of the Potomac, on Sunday last, met a reverse equally severe and unexpected. For a day or two the panic which had produced the result was followed by a panic that seemed to threaten to demoralize the country. But that evil has ceased already. The result is already seen in s vigorous reconstruction upon a scale of greater magnitude and increased enthusiasm."

20

ANOTHER UPRISING.-UNIONISTS REPRESSED.

than its prescribed quota, stating that "it was more important to reduce than to enlarge the number," was now glad to receive all that might be offered from every quarter. Then it was that the Pennsylvania Reserves, called into existence by Governor Curtin, were so speedily transferred from Harrisburg to Washington, and gave security to the National Capital. Everywhere the people flew to arms with a feeling of devotion to their country, deeper, because born of serious contemplation, than when Fort Sumter was attacked. There was another grand uprising; and within a fortnight after the Battle of Bull's Run, when the terms of service of the seventy-five thousand three-months men had expired, more than an equal number were in camps or in the field, engaged "for three years or the war." Among them were a large portion of the three-months men, who had re-enlisted. Nine-tenths of the non-combatants shared in the fervor and the faith of those who took up arms, and the people of the Free-labor States presented to the world a sublime spectacle difficult to comprehend. That terrible crisis in the life of the nation was promptly met, and the salvation of the Republic was assured.

In the mean time, the Confederates, flushed with victory, and satisfied that their so-called attorney-general (Benjamin) had predicted wisely, that pacification through recognition by France or England, or both, would occur "in ninety days," and their independence be secured, were wasting golden moments in celebrating their own valor. Yet, in the manner of that unthriftiness of time and opportunity, there was a potential force that gave amazing strength to the Confederacy. There was a prestige in that battle, and the celebration of the triumph, which almost silenced opposition to the war; for multitudes, who had loved the Union supremely, and had no faith in the success of the conspirators, now thought they saw a great revolution nearly accomplished, and themselves made part of a new nation carved suddenly by the sword out of the Republic, with whose fortunes it was their duty and their interest to link themselves. They had already suffered much from the despotism established by the conspirators; and now, by an act of the "Congress," threatened with banishment and confiscation, they were utterly helpless, and sought peace and reconciliation by a display of zeal in what was dignified by the name of a war for independence. That "united South" which the conspirators had falsely

a Aug. S and 80, 1861.

a

1 General Patterson's Narrative of the Campaign in the Shenandoah Valley.

2 See note 2, page 520, volume I.

It is reported that General Buckner, captured at Fort Donelson several months afterward, while on his way to Fort Warren, at Boston, as a prisoner of war, said to a gentleman in Albany: "The effect of that battle was to inspire the Southerners with a blind confidence, and lull them into false security. The effect upon the Northerners, on the other hand, was to arouse, madden, and exasperate."

4 The pressure brought to bear on the Union men was terrible, and the youth of that class were driven into the army by thousands, because of the social proscription to which they were subjected. The zeal of the women in the cause of rebellion was unbounded, and their influence was extremely potential. Young men who hesitated when asked to enlist, or even waited to be asked, were shunned and sneered at by the young women; and many were the articles of woman's apparel which were sent, as significant gifts, to these laggards at home. Men who still dared to stand firm in their true allegiance, were denounced as "traitors to their country," and treated as such; and the proscription and the persecution became so general and fiery, that Millie Mayfield was justified in singing, with scornful lips

"Union men! O thrice-fooled fools!

As well might ye hope to bind
The desert sands with a silken thread,
When tossed by the whirling wind,

THE CONFEDERATE ARMY IMMOVABLE.

21

declared months before, now became a fact, and the terrible strife instantly assumed the proportions and the vigor of a civil war of unparalleled magnitude. Almost the entire resources of the inhabitants of the States in which rebellion existed were devoted to the cause, and with wonderful energy on both sides, the great conflict went on. During that conflict, while weaker men were in practical sympathy with the conspirators, there were thousands of the best men of the South, imbued with the martyr-spirit which reverences principle, who could not be made to yield to the terrible pressure, but maintained their integrity throughout. These unconditional Unionists suffered intensely in person and property, and large numbers perished. But the survivors were many, and offered to the nation, at the close of the war, the proper instrumentalities for co-operation with the Government in the reorganization of the disordered Union on a basis of justice, which should secure for the Republic, for all time, tranquillity and prosperity.

When the shouts of triumph had died away, and the smoke of battle was dissipated, and the people of the Confederacy saw their victorious army immovable at Manassas and indisposed to follow up their victory, they were uneasy, and many a lip queried why "President" Davis, the chief of the army, returned so quickly to Richmond, and spent time in public boastings of the achievements of the present and in predictions of the future, instead of directing Johnston and Beauregard to press on after the fugitives and capture Washington City, the great and coveted prize? The immobility of their army was an enigma. It was an incubus on the spirits of the people. While their tongues were jubilant, their hearts were misgiving.

Johnston and Beauregard desired to press on, but the wisdom and the prudence of the first-named officer restrained his own impatience and the folly and rashness of the Creole; and the perilous movement was delayed until it was too late to hope for success. Johnston knew that it would be madness to follow the retreating Nationals, and hurl his wearied troops against the strong defenses of Washington, behind which they were resting, supported by fresh soldiers. But he was anxious to carry out his original plan of crossing the Potomac above the National Capital, cut off that city's communications with the North, and capture it by a vigorous movement in the rear. But for a pursuit, or this grand flank movement, there were two essential requisites lacking—namely, a sufficient cavalry force, and means of subsistence, for which lack Confederate experts hold Davis responsible. It is agreed that he always seemed to take a delight in thwarting the wishes of others; and with a most mischievous obstinacy he followed the dictates of his own will, passions, and caprice, rather than the counsels of judicious advisers. This disposition was conspicuous in his appointment to important offices of his incapable personal and political friends; and the best of the Confederate army officers declare that, by his interference in details, he was a

Or to blend the shattered waves that lash

The feet of the cleaving rock,

When the tempest walks the face of the deep,

And the water-spirits mock,

As the sacred chain to reunite

In a peaceful link again;

On our burning homesteads ye may write,

'We found no Union men.""

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

3

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.