He soon permitted himself to be recognized as the head of the party of inaction, and to be surrounded by the leaders of the reactionary political faction of the North. To avoid misinterpretation and misrepresentation, I pause to say that I allude to no Democrat who believed, as Jackson had done, that the Union was a blessing worth preserving, when I refer to the leaders of the reactionary force of that day. They were Northern pro-slavery disunionists who preferred the destruction of the Union to the destruction of slavery, of whom Clement L. Vallandigham was a brilliant type. They sought the advantages of union and organization, and established secret orders—such as the " Knights of the Golden Circle "; and when addressing meetings of illiterate men in opposition to the enforcement of the draft, to the suspension of the habeas corpus, to the enlistment of colored troops in the army, or to any other vital measures, not infrequently spoke of President Lincoln as a "Mulatto Buffoon." In their familiar parlance, those who supported the administration in its efforts to save the country, were characterized as "Black Republican Disunionists" and "Nigger Lovers," and, if they wore the national uniform, as "Lincoln's Hirelings.'

But for the instant, earnest, and persistent co-operation of national Democrats, the government could not, I bebelieve, have crushed the rebellion and restored the Union. Dix and Stanton were Democrats who had served till the close of Buchanan's administration in his Cabinet; Morton, of Indiana, and Tod and Brough, of Ohio, who were distinguished for courage and energy among the illustrious group of war governors, had been life-long Democrats, and I might add the names of hundreds of Democrats of State or national reputation who

promptly sought service in the Union army. But the highest enthusiasm for the national cause was exhibited by the rank and file who, ignoring party names or distinctions, with the jubilant shout: "We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more," swarmed into the Union camps of every State, and illustrated the popular devotion to country and flag by compelling the President to accept the services of tens of thousands of men for whom he had not called, but whose services would evidently be needed. Yet the head-quarters of the General-in-Chief soon became a rendezvous for the master spirits of the reactionary force. Here frequent conferences were held, in which Messrs. Vallandigham and George H. Pendleton, of the House, and Senators Milton S. Latham and Henry M. Rice were conspicuous. These meetings were characterized by a prominent Democrat, who revolted from their objects, as a "continuing caucus for the consideration of plans of resistance to all measures which proposed to strengthen the army or the navy; to provide means for their pay, sustenance, the munitions of war, and means of transportation; and to devise means of embarrassing the government by constitutional quibbles and legal subtleties.' It was here, so it was then said, that Vallandigham was inspired to take such a course with reference to the surrender, by the Administration, of Mason and Slidell as might result in war with Great Britain. Here, too, a preliminary draft of the resolution of Mr. Pendleton, which declared that Congress alone has the power, under the Constitution of the United States, to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, was said to have been discussed; and here assembled for consultation the men who arranged the working details of a scheme

1 Moses F. Odell, of N. Y.

which, having received the sanction of McClellan and the endorsement of an apparent majority of division commanders, would, they believed, compel the President to surrender his well-digested plan of approaching Richmond, and accept one of the difficulties of which, as experience proved, the General-in-Chief had no conception, and which, but for what I cannot help regarding as a providential interposition, the unexpected appearance of Ericsson's monitor, would have destroyed the Army of the Potomac and cost us from fifty to eighty thousand men with their supplies and munitions of war, including horses for artillery and cavalry.

Here, too, at the head-quarters of the General-in-Chief, indignities as gross, if not more gross, than those which drove General Scott into retirement, were flagrantly inflicted upon the President of the United States.

Among General Scott's complaints was that his subordinate refused to confer with him; and when the President, impelled by anxiety for the country, waived questions of official etiquette and proceeded to head-quarters, the announcement of his presence was more than once greeted with boisterous and derisive laughter, evidently intended for his ears; and there was one occasion when it was more than whispered by those immediately about the President, that he was made to wait nearly an hour while men who denied the right of the government to maintain the Union by force of arms engaged McClellan's attention; and when at his own good time the General concluded to see his Commander-in-Chief, his departing guests visibly sneered at that officer as they passed the door of the cold chamber in which he had been so long imprisoned. That was, I believe, the last time President Lincoln sought an interview with McClellan in his head

quarters at Washington. He did, however, visit him at those of the Army of the Potomac, in camp near Harrison's Landing, July 8, 1862, in the season of that army's profoundest humiliation.

If, as General McClellan asserts, it was after Mr. Stanton's accession to the War Office that the impatience of the Executive became extreme, history will ascribe the impatience not to the words or deeds of Edwin M. Stanton, but to those of George B. McClellan and his chosen companions. The people had been told by the General that the military action of the government should be "prompt and irresistible," that "we should crush the rebellion at one blow, and terminate the war in one campaign." It is true that his inspiring rhetoric was addressed to the Executive, but ours is a popular government, and it reached the people and excited expectations which he would not permit his magnificent army to fulfil.

In a memorandum addressed to the President on the 4th of August, 1861, he said:

"The object of the present war differs from those in which nations are usually engaged mainly in this: that the purpose of ordinary war is to conquer a peace and make a treaty on advantageous terms. In this contest it has become necessary to crush a population sufficiently numerous, intelligent, and warlike to constitute a nation. We have not only to defeat their armed and organized forces in the field, but to display such an overwhelming strength as will convince all our antagonists, especially those of the governing aristocratic classes, of the utter impossibility of resistance. * * The authority of the government must be supported by overwhelming physical force. Our foreign relations and financial credit also. imperatively demand that the military action of the government should be prompt and irresistible."

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"The force I have recommended is large; the expense is great. It is possible that a smaller force might accomplish the object in view, but I understand it to be the purpose of this great nation to re-establish the power of its government, and restore peace to its citizens in the shortest possible time. The question to be decided is simply this: Shall we crush the rebellion at one blow, terminate the war in one campaign, or shall we leave it as a legacy for our descendants?" 1

After nearly three months of inactivity during which the enthusiasm of the troops was sinking under the dreary monotony of camp life, the impatience of the people became so vociferous as to require to be allayed. McClellan could not ignore the popular impulse, and in the course of a communication addressed to Secretary Cameron in the latter part of October, said:

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"So much time has passed, and the winter is approaching so rapidly, that but two courses are left to the Government, viz. either to go into winter quarters, or to assume the offensive with forces greatly inferior in numbers to the army I regarded as desirable and necessary. * * The nation feels, and I share that feeling, that the Army of the Potomac holds the fate of the country in its hands. All the information we have from spies, prisoners, etc., agrees in showing that the enemy have a force on the Potomac not less than 150,000 strong, well-drilled, and equipped, ably commanded and strongly intrenched.' I have thus indicated in a general manner the objects to be accomplished and the means by which we may gain our ends. A vigorous employment of these means will, in my opinion, enable the Army of the Potomac to assume successfully this season the offensive

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166 'Records, War of the Rebellion," Vol. V., Series I., pp. 6 and 8.

2 Such stories were intrinsically improbable, and the Confederate records show incontestably that the enemy never had 150,000 men in Northern Virginia, and that their army had not at that time been strongly intrenched.