army, cut off by General Jackson from Alexandria-it was thought inadvisable to push forward infantry without a proper force of artillery, or to send waggon trains without escort. Sumner's corps was likewise hindered from marching to the front, by the fear lest the enemy, having turned the right of Pope's army, should force the passage of the Potomac, and attack Washington on the side of the Chain Bridge. General M'Clellan was in a position of no ordinary difficulty, and attended with no common amount of trial. He, the general of the army of the Potomac, was virtually deprived of his command; his troops were taken from him; he was invested with little real authority, being under the orders of General Halleck; yet he was often required to act on his own responsibility; and when defeat and its attendant terror and anxiety had awakened the President and his advisers to a sense of their danger, he was begged informally to resume command, and to succour, at their utmost need, the men who were only too anxious to supplant and supersede him. That he was a man actuated by motives of patriotism, and not influenced by selfish considerations, is apparent from the readiness with which he came to the rescue of his country, and his abstaining from any stipulation with regard to his own personal position.

Great was the consternation in the North when the true results of Pope's campaign became known. Many had believed his despatch claiming victory on the 29th, and, of those who had doubted its accuracy, few were prepared to hear of the retreat and total demoralisation of the army on the three subsequent days. In order to raise a sufficient force for the further prosecution of the war, the President had issued a call for an additional 300,000 men, and it became apparent that there would

be great difficulty in raising the required number. Measures were taken by the wealthy in the several large cities to procure volunteers, by the offer of high bounties, so as to avoid the necessity of a conscription. Whilst, therefore, the crowd of demoralised fugitives were pouring into Washington, whilst the bridges over the Potomac were blocked with long lines of ambulances, whilst the streets and squares of the city were rendered hideous by the sight of the halt and lame and still untended sufferers from the recent battles, New York was streaming with flags, was gay with bands, and eagerly enthusiastic to welcome the men who offered themselves to fill up the quota of troops demanded to replace the victims of the last campaign. Not only was every inducement held out to enlistment, but severe measures were adopted to check expressions of discouragement. A strict censorship was placed over the press, and many men for apparently slight causes were incarcerated in Fort Lafayette and other prisons. The people meanwhile cried out for a victim on whom to vent their anger for the late misfortunes. Most unjustly General M'Dowell was selected, and an outcry raised against him as the traitor at whose door many of the defeats were to be laid. To their credit be it said, that neither Mr. Lincoln or his advisers would yield to this outcry. General M'Dowell was General Pope removed

sent away on furlough, and to Minnesota to wage war against the Indians; but no blood was shed; and, in this respect, not only in the present instance but in many others, have both the Northern and Southern Governments and people afforded a pleasing contrast to the violence and cruelty of European nations in times of revolution and public misfortune.

Amidst all the pomp of war, the excitement of victory, and the confusion of defeat, followed by fresh efforts to create armies, the victims of the many days' battles remained for the most part uncared for. Thickly were the dead and wounded strewed over the field of Bull Run, and for some time little or no means were taken to relieve them. The Confederates were unable to furnish either medical comforts or attendants for their own men, and such was the confusion among the authorities at Washington, that even the materials at their disposal were not utilized. Great quantities of stores were willingly and quickly sent from the several Northern cities, and many surgeons volunteered to proceed to the scene of the recent battles, but little good was effected for some time, and many valuable lives were lost which might have been saved if proper care had been bestowed on them. In every way were the resources of the North taxed to the utmost, for not only in Virginia had the tide of victory turned against her, but in the West likewise her armies had been driven back, and the successes of the previous spring counterbalanced by reverses which threatened to snatch from her the fruits of the campaigns of Kentucky and Tennessee.

army

For a short period following the entrance of Pope's into Washington there was a pause in active operations. Lee was not sufficiently strong to attempt the siege of the long lines of entrenchments, which every day became more numerously garrisoned by recruits pouring in from the North; and although the Southern people, through the organs of the Richmond press, cried out for a change in the scene of operations and an invasion of the enemy's country, it was yet doubtful whether such a course could be pursued, and, supposing

it should be decided on, to what point the advance of the Confederate army should be directed. The river below Washington was guarded by gunboats, whilst an invasion of Maryland or Pennsylvania involved the risk of a movement in the presence of a superior army strongly entrenched on the flank. It could only be alleged in favour of such a proposal, that bold operations will oftentimes succeed when the right moment is seized, and that possibly the population of Maryland would be induced by the presence of the Confederate army openly to declare itself in favour of the South.

Such a march required some days for preparation, and whilst General Lee was collecting the necessary stores for a new campaign, General M'Clellan was as diligently engaged in reorganising his army. Several changes were made in the commanders of corps and divisions, and care was taken to intermingle the new regiments with those who had acquired the experience, if not the prestige, of more than one hard fought campaign.

CHAPTER VII.

CAMPAIGN IN MARYLAND.

FOR Some few days after the entry into Washington of General Pope's army, a variety of rumours purporting to indicate the destination of the Confederates were circulated through the city. The numbers under General Lee's command were very much exaggerated; and so greatly had he and his subordinates, especially General Jackson, risen in the opinion of their enemies, that no project was thought too extravagant, or enterprise too daring, for the adoption of such successful generals. Lee knew better his position, and the means at his disposal and at that of his Government; but even he, who hitherto had acted almost entirely on the defensive, having been driven in the last campaign to adopt offensive movements only as a means of protecting Richmond, was tempted to carry the war across the Potomac, and to endeavour to prove how far the reported enthusiasm of the Marylanders would urge them to rise in his favour and recruit his army, almost cut off as it then would be from communication with Richmond. Doubtless there would be some risk attending this movement. The strongly fortified city of Washington would be in close proximity to the right rear of the invading force, and almost between it and its base of operations. That city was garrisoned by an army already far larger than the force which Lee could