might be, and the cars to be burnt by the enemy. The hos tile force consisted of a small scouting party under Colonel Gregg, and did not pursue in the least. The adverse guns were, like those of Big Bethel, immediately set down as a "masked battery," a phantom of the imagination that played a really considerable part during the early stages of the war.*

But the discouragement caused by these lapses was destined soon to disappear under the influence of a series of very different operations in Western Virginia, from whose mountains was flashed the first gleam of positive victory upon the Union

arms.

II.

MCCLELLAN IN WEST VIRGINIA.

IT has been seen, in an earlier part of this narrative, that the defence of Western Virginia, on the side of the Confederates, had been undertaken by General Lee, who had dispatched Colonel Porterfield to that region, for the purpose of raising there a local force. The object of this, it is probable, was not so much to undertake offensive operations across the Ohio River, as to coerce the loyal inhabitants into the secession movement.t

* This "masked battery" theory was given by General Schenck in explanation of the affair at Vienna, touching which he says, in his dispatch of the time to General Scott: "We were fired upon by raking masked batteries of, I think, three guns, with shell, round-shot, and grape," etc. It would be difficult to say how much, and for how long a time, this absurd fiction of "masked batteries" affected operations; but it is certain that it had no inconsiderable influence. A curious illustration of this is given by General McDowell, in his evidence touching the battle of Bull Run. "The march," says he, " was slow,-one reason being, that since the affairs at Vienna and Big Bethel, a fear of 'masked batteries' caused hesitation in regard to advance upon points concerning which there was a want of information." Report on the Conduct of the War, vol. ii., p. 4. So true to human nature is the maxim, " Omne ignotum pro magnifico !” The correctness of this view of the aim of the Confederates in West Vir ginia is fully confirmed by captured dispatches from General Lee to Colonel Porterfield.

Now about the middle of May, the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois had been formed into a department named the Department of the Ohio, and its control had by General Scott been intrusted to General George B. McClellan, formerly of the Corps of Engineers in the regular army, who having a short time previously been made major-general of the Ohio contingent under the three months' call, was now raised to the same rank in the regular army. His command being bounded on one side by the Ohio River, McClellan's attention was naturally attracted to the events passing on the other side of the frontier, within the limits of West Virginia. Finding the position of the Confederates both oppressive to the loyal inhabitants and menacing in a military point of view, General McClellan, about the end of May, without instructions from Washington, threw over a force to the Virginia side of the Ohio; and hearing of a secession camp at Phillippi, he ordered it to be broken up. The movement to this end was under way, when Porterfield, becoming aware of it, abandoned his position. McClellan having determined to occupy the whole region, had his Ohio regiments, as they were in succession equipped, transferred to the Virginia side. But the Confederates were indisposed to give up this mountain fastness; and accordingly, to meet the Union occupation, strong reenforcements, to the amount of six thousand men, were directed upon Western Virginia, and the command given to General Garnett, an old officer of the regular army. Garnett took up advantageous positions at Laurel Hill, a westward-facing sentinel of the Alleghany range, where he held command of the great road from Wheeling to Staunton, the main highway of communications for the region west of the Alleghanies with that to the east of that mountain-wall,-and began a system of very active and very annoying partisan operations. In the course of a month General McClellan had on foot a considerable army, and he then determined to take the field against Garnett's force. The theatre of operations was that portion of Western Virginia contained between the Ohio and Cheat rivers in one direction, and the Baltimore and Ohio

Railroad and Great Kanawha and Gauley rivers in the other. The affluents of the Monongahela and the two Kanawhas divide this region into a number of narrow valleys, separated by rough and difficult hills, which rise into true mountains as they approach the heads of the Little Kanawha and the west fork of the Monongahela. The country here becomes alpine in its character. The roads practicable for wagons are few, narrow, and difficult. As cultivation is generally confined to the valleys, and the mountain-sides are obstructed by rocks and a dense growth of timber and underbrush, it is difficult even for skirmishers to move across the country, and it is not possible for troops and trains to march elsewhere than on the narrow roads. Positions suitable for handling artillery are rare, and cavalry is useful in that district only to convey intelligence. The resources of the country are inconsiderable.*

These characteristics of ground, which are the common characteristics of mountain regions, give to mountain warfare certain principles particular to it, and different from those that obtain in military operations in the plain. Thus mountain warfare readily admits of combined marches, which can seldom be employed in the plain. Such marches offer, in highland regions, no real danger, since the enemy is unable to throw himself between the columns: it is therefore sufficient that each column be strong enough to defend the valley in which it operates. But the facility of the tactical defence of highlands renders it necessary for the assailant to seek to dislodge the enemy by manoeuvres rather than direct attack: in other words, he should manoeuvre offensively while he fights defensively; or, as Napoleon sums up the theory in one pregnant sentence, "the genius of mountain warfare consists in occupying camp on the flanks or on the rear of the enemy,

* McClellan Campaigns in Western Virginia, p. 25.

f Vial: Cours d'Art et d'Histoire Militaires, vol. ii., p. 82. On this feature of mountain warfare, see also McDougall: Modern Warfare and Modern Artillery, p. 356.

so as to leave him only the alternative of evacuating his posi tion without fighting, or of issuing to attack."

I make this exposition of the theory of mountain warfare, because, as will presently appear, the operations of General McClellan in Western Virginia afford a very happy application of all the cardinal principles here laid down. The main turnpike from Staunton to Wheeling, which is the great highway across the mountains, was held by Garnett in an intrenched position, at Laurel Hill. This road, which here runs nearly southward, was his direct and natural line of retreat, and if cut off from that, his only chance of escape was by difficult roads over the mountains, eastward. Five miles below Garnett's main position at Laurel Hill, a road from the west passes through this spur at a defile known as Rich Mountain, and strikes the main road. To guard this approach against any menace directed upon his line of retreat, Garnett had placed here his second in command, Colonel Pegram, with a force of about one thousand men. McClellan, whose line of march was from the west, from the direction of the Ohio River, determined to dislodge Garnett and Pegram by striking their main line of retreat below the position held by the latter. Then, to make the operation decisive, he resolved to direct another column from the north to seize the only other avenue of escape, and thus, if possible, capture or destroy the whole adverse force.t

With the main column of two brigades, under Brigadier Generals Scheich and Rosecrans, the afterwards illustrious commander of the Army of the Cumberland and victor of Stone River, General McClellan moved from the west, by way of Clarksburg to Buchanon (July 2), twenty miles west of the hostile position. From here, several divergent expedi

As authority on this same point, see also Dufour, Strategy and Tactics, p. 261; Jomini: Art of War, p. 168; Vial: Cours d'Art, etc., vol. ii., p. 83.

In a letter to Lieutenant-General Scott, communicating his proposed plan of operations, McClellan adroitly put it that he should seek to "repeat the manœuvre at Cerro Gordo."

tionary columns were sent out to mislead the enemy. Another column, composed of the brigade of General Morris, held position at Phillippi, about the same distance north of the enemy's stronghold, as General McClellan, at Buchanon, with his other two brigades, was west of it. The 7th of July, Morris was directed to advance southward to a position within a mile and a half of Garnett's camp at Laurel Hill, and by strong demonstrations give the enemy the impression that the main attack was to be made by him. The 8th, McClellan, with the brigades of Rosecrans and Scheich, moved eastward from Buchanon, and on the following afternoon came within two miles of Pegram's position at Rich Mountain. Having reconnoitred it, he resolved, instead of making a direct attack, to hold one of his brigades in front, while he sent Rosecrans by a detour by the right and southward, to lay hold of the enemy's main line of retreat, the turnpike, and then take Pegram's position in the rear. Setting out early in the morning, Rosecrans moved partly by mountain bridlepaths, and partly through rough and trackless woods and thickets of laurel. It rained incessantly. By noon he had gained Pegram's rear; but the latter, having captured a dragoon carrying dispatches from the Union commander, became aware of the plan, and effecting a partial change of front, posted a force of six hundred men and three guns to hold the crest of the mountain in his rear, while with the remainder he confronted the force McClellan held in his front. After a sharp fusilade, Rosecrans carried the crest, driving the defenders in upon Pegram's intrenchments; but against this force he did not push his advance, and as McClellan, awaiting the sounds of his musketry before joining in with a front attack heard none, the day passed by. During the night, Pegram evacuated his position, and attempted to join Garnett's main body, five miles north. After a day's wandering through the woods, being surrounded, he was compelled to surrender with six hundred men, the few remaining hundreds escaping. Meantime, Garnett, alarmed at the forces gathering around him on all sides, also abandoned his position at Laurel Hill.