These energetic and able movements cleared Western Virginia of Confederate forces, and exposed Johnston, who was then in front of Patterson. They closed General McClellan's career in the Department of the Ohio, within a few days of the disastrous events which disorganized the Army of the Potomac, and the prestige which he thus acquired seeming to indicate his ability to reorganize and consolidate the Army of the North, he was transferred to the command of the Army of the Potomac.

CHAPTER IX.

Effect of the Battle of Bull Run.-Confederate Congress.-Davis's Message.-Privateering.-Affairs in Missouri.-Commissioners to Europe.-Southern Armies and Finances.

WE have now brought our history to the close of its first period, when the impatience of the people, and the imperfect preparation and training of the troops, hitherto unskilled in the art of war, led to the disastrous battle of Bull Run. From the humiliation which followed that defeat, the North emerged with a purer patriotism, a courage and zeal which rose above defeat, and a determination to put forth all her energies to crush out the rebellion. The work of enlistment went on with great rapidity, and before the Confederate forces had recovered from the terrible havoc made in their ranks, the danger which for a few days after the battle had threatened the Federal capital was past, and new regiments were stretching their lines of defence in every direction around it. At the South the effect was different; it seemed to sustain the views there held, that the Northern troops could not withstand the shock of arms when opposed to the South. This impression, it has been alleged, was of great detriment to the Southern cause, since it prevented that persevering and energetic preparation which was indispensable even to a defensive policy, and which the North undertook with vigorous determination and patient perseverance.

The Confederate Congress, which had adjourned May 20th, at Montgomery, to meet in Richmond, assembled July 20th, in the hall of the House of Delegates. The names of the executive, cabinet, and members of Congress of all the States except Tennessee, Texas, and Arkansas, are embraced in the following list: