CHAP. LVII.] CRITICAL POSITION OF THE GOVERNMENT.

447

exist, adding that I could rectify the evil, and that no one else could.”

McClellan sends a

In consequence of this urgent appeal to him, McClellan sent to Fitz John Porter his dispatch of Sepdispatch to Porter. tember 1st: "I ask of you, for my sake, that of the country, and the old Army of the Potomac, that you and all of my friends will lend the fullest and most cordial co-operation to General Pope in all the operations now going on,” etc.

Lincoln reconciled

Lincoln was ostensibly reconciled to the reinstating of McClellan by the circumstance that he, of to McClellan's re- all the generals, was most familiar with the defenses of Washington. What with fatigue, disappointment, and anxiety, Halleck's health was almost broken down.

instatement.

Position of anxiety

Military critics will doubtless point out professional mistakes in Pope's campaign. In justice, of Lincoln. however, they must bear in mind his disappointed expectations of support. Well might Lincoln, who, notwithstanding his general buoyancy, was subject to paroxysms of deep depression, almost despair when he saw so much gallantry wasted. Well might his heart sink within him when he was now sardonically told, in allusion to his former solicitude for the seat of govern ment at the outset of the Peninsular campaign, “at once to use all our means to make the capital perfectly safe." And well was it for him that he had a cool and courageous Secretary of War, who looked beyond the shame and disasters of the passing moment; who, in their many weary watches together through the night-hours at the War Department, could sustain him in his anxieties, and organize for him victory at last.

All things looked auspiciously for the Confederacy. Lee's sortie thus far The national army had been thrust from its ground, and had, after awful losses, sought

completely successful.

448

LEE'S SUCCESS IN THE CAMPAIGN.

[SECT. XI.

shelter in the defenses of Washington. The sortie of Lee seemed to be a brilliant success. There was nothing now to prevent him passing into Maryland-apparently nothing to prevent his proposed march to the North. Joy was diffused throughout every Southern state; peace and independence seemed to be close at hand.

CHAPTER LVIII.

THE SORTIE OF LEE AND ITS REPULSE.

THE BATTLE OF AN

TIETAM. THE CONFEDERATES RETIRE TO THE RAPPAHANNOCK. BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG.

The Confederate general, entering Maryland, could not induce the people to join him.

He was followed in his march by McClellan from Washington, and ventured on dividing his army in presence of that general, detaching one portion of it to capture Harper's Ferry, in which he succeeded.

At the same time, McClellan attacked another portion on South Mountain, and drove it before him.

Battle of ANTIETAM. The Confederate sortie was repulsed, and Lee forced back again into Virginia.

McClellan, failing to press vigorously on the Confederates, was removed by the government from command, Burnside succeeding him.

BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG. The Confederates repulsed the national army. Hooker was assigned to command in Burnside's stead.

THE Confederate army had driven its antagonist into the fortifications of Washington, and had opened for itself a way to the North.

Invasion of Mary

On the same day (September 5th) that Bragg, on a similar duty, entered Kentucky, Lee, crossland by Lee. ing the Potomac near Point of Rocks, entered Maryland, and marched toward Frederick.

Plan of the Ken

land sorties.

The general plan for the Kentucky and Maryland campaigns, as conceived in Richmond, resttucky and Mary- ed on the great military strength which the conscription had given. It proposed the reorganization of the governments of those states on Confederate principles, and a march to the North for the exaction of a treaty of peace.

Lee had no intention of making a direct attack on Washington. He knew that if a successful issue should II.-F F

450

A direct attack on Washington not intended.

Lee's address to

LEE ENTERS MARYLAND.

[SECT. XI.

crown his campaign, the land communications between the North and that city be ing cut off, it must necessarily fall of itself. On the 8th of September he issued at Frederick an address to the people of Maryland. He dethe Marylanders. clared that the people of the Confederate States had marked with the deepest sympathy the wrongs and outrages that had been inflicted on Maryland-the illegal imprisonment of its citizens, the usurpation of the government of Baltimore, the arbitrary dissolution of the Legislature, the suppression of the freedom of speech and of the press. Believing that the people of Maryland had too lofty a spirit to submit to a government guilty of such wrongs, and to aid them in throwing off its foreign yoke, he had brought his army among them to assist them in regaining the rights of which they had been unjustly despoiled.

They decline

The Confederate general had supposed that large reenforcements would flock to him, but in this joining him. he was destined to disappointment. It turned out, as it did with the corresponding movement of Bragg in Kentucky, that the number of volunteers did not compensate for the deserters. It did not amount to five hundred men. At this the whole South was bitterly chagrined. Its popular sentiment had displayed toward this state the most affectionate sympathy. "Maryland, my Maryland," was the burden of the most beautiful lyric composed in the South during the war. It was sung with patriotic rapture, and nowhere more so than at the firesides of Virginia.

It defeats the campaign.

In this lukewarmness of the Marylanders Lee saw at once the failure of his enterprise. He could not commit his army to an invasion of Pennsylvania with Maryland doubtful or hostile at his back. Conscription, though it makes numerous brave, makes also

CHAP. LVIII.]

ALARM IN PENNSYLVANIA.

451

numerous unwilling soldiers. It is one thing to defend one's own fireside, another to engage in a distant, perhaps a Quixotic expedition. Lee saw very plainly the true interpretation of the daily increasing desertions from his

army.

of the sortie.

Bragg, in his sortie, had an advantage over Lee. An Ostensible object ostensible object had been assigned, and that was satisfactorily and successfully presented when it was clear that there would be a failure in obtaining the true result. Fortune, however, was not unmindful of Lee. She threw into his way the brilliant incident of the capture of the garrison of Harper's Ferry. At once that was put forth as the real object of the whole movement. In truth, however, it was too insignificant a temptation to induce so important a step, and it was impossible that any such expectation could have been entertained at the outset, since the probabilities were that the post would be evacuated long before the Confederates could reach it. It was an accidental stroke of luck, which was made to answer the purpose of covering a deep disappointment.

vania.

The Confederate advance into Maryland was the signal Alarm in Pennsyl- for an intense excitement in the adjoining state, Pennsylvania, and, indeed, throughout the North. The governor notified the mayor of Philadel phia that he had reliable information of a movement of the Confederate army on Harrisburg, and called upon him to "send 20,000 men to-morrow." On its part, the Confederate army, justly transported with delight at the Boast of the Con- results of the Virginia campaign, so glorious federate soldiers. to it, openly avowed its expectation of dictating a peace in Philadelphia. The same hall which had witnessed the signing of the Declaration of Independence of the United States was to witness the signing of a treaty acknowledging the independence of the South.